The Calling
by Jinx444
Summary: Is she happy? Does she miss me? Will I need her? These and many more questions are swarming in Derek's mind when he's forced to leave Chloe behind on a rescue mission. He hopes he'll live long enough for them to be answered.  Please read other 2 stories
1. Chapter 1

Authors Note: I own nothing.

"Chloe!" I screeched as Chloe's black hair burst into flames that gradually started drifting down her petite body. I tried to catch my breath as the girl I loved had suddenly transformed into a burning inferno. I had to cover my eyes to protect them from the brightness of the first few seconds as she lit up. She yelped and dropped to her hands and knees. She must've been trying to do the 'stop, drop, and roll' thing, though we both knew that that wasn't going to me enough to stop the blaze from eating away at her skin. The strange ripping sound of the flames seemed to laugh at my pain and her agonizing screams as they danced all over her body. As I sprinted, trying to ignore the sickening smell of bubbling flesh, I realized that they were changing colors like some kind of morbid rainbow. They had started out red, then changed to dark orange, then to light yellow, then to dark green, and then to an unnatural pale blue. I didn't let it slow me down, though it seemed that with every step I took her calls for help sounded farther and farther away. I felt tears glide down my cheeks as Chloe became completely still, laying flat on the pavement of the empty parking lot. I got down on my knees next to her, trying desperately to think of something I could do, something that would save her.

"It's gonna be ok, it's gonna be alright. I'm right here. I'll protect you." I wept pathetically. I wanted so badly to touch her, to just be able to wipe the flames from her face and kiss her cheeks. It was then that I realized that I couldn't even tell which part of her was which, if she was facedown or on her back. She just looked like a pile of black stick that had been used for a bonfire. I didn't recognize the noises of anguish that came out of my throat. They didn't sound human, or wolf, but like something in between. Eventually sobs started dying down, even though the flames were still burning strong.

"Why didn't you save her?" I heard Rae's voice call from behind me. Her usually sassy tone had disappeared and been replaced with a somber, emotionless voice, one that sounded more like a computer than a person. "She was right there and you just watched her die."

"No…" I whimpered as I shut my eyes and tried to block out the wave of pain that lapped at my heart. "You killed her."

"Say that all you want, but you know the truth. You're the one that killed her. The one that just stood by as her skin melted off of her tiny little bones." Rae said, "I started the fire, but I can't take all of the blame. It was something you could've stopped." That was it. I stood up and turned in one single motion, swinging my fist as hard as I could at her face. Instead of hitting Rae's dark flesh, my fist collided with something hard and cold.

I opened my eyes to find my knuckles buried a new, two-inch dent in the wall. "Damn it…" I whispered as I withdrew my hand, shaking it as I did. I flexed my fingers. I doubted any of them were broken, but the drywall was a different story.

I sighed as I plopped back down on the mattress and stared up at the white plaster ceiling of the crappy hotel room we'd decided to stay in. The blankets were itchy and I could clearly hear small rodents in the walls, but at least it was better than sleeping in the pickup like we had the last couple of nights. It had been a little over three days since we left Troy's house, and every single night I'd been plagued with images of Chloe burning to death. It wasn't always in an empty parking lot, and the fire didn't always change colors, but Rae was always there, telling me that I could've done something to save her. Chloe's screams were always there. My tears were always there.

I looked around to check if Simon was awake before reaching over the side of my bed and reached into a dull red over night bag. I grabbed the cheap cell phone that we'd bought at a local Walmart the day before we left Texas. We gave Troy and Chloe one too, just in case. I didn't want to bother her, but I just had to check on her. I might gloss over the details of me driving myself insane with worry. I was supposed to be the one comforting her for once, not the other way around. I flipped the phone open and clicked the green talk button to turn it on, placing my hand over the speaker to muffle the sound it made when it started up.

"How do I text on this thing…" I asked myself as I shuffled through the message settings. I was just fine with calculus and college-level science was a breeze, but text messaging was a whole different issue. I usually left it to Simon.

"Derek…are you alright?" I heard Lauren say sleepily. I glanced over to see her standing over to my right in the doorway that connected our two rooms (Simon was in my room while Casey, Lauren, and Tori slept in the other). I shoved the cell phone under my thigh before nodding, still trying to get used to the idea that I was no longer the only one in the group with super hearing.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up." I said and sat up, letting the sheet fall down off of my bare chest. She walked over to my bed and sat down on the side, her dark hair draped around her green eyes that looked so much like my own flashing in the darkness. There was something about her eyes that held a terrified innocence that I hadn't seen before. It was almost like looking into the eyes of a baby deer.

"It's fine, I wasn't really sleeping well anyway." She said and smoothed out the creases in her blue sweatpants "They always gave me medication before they put me to bed, so I guess I'm just not used to going to sleep without being drugged up."

"Wow," I said "they kept you on a pretty short leash, huh?" Lyle House had felt like a prison, I couldn't even imagine what living in the Edison building felt like.

"Don't get me started." Lauren said with a yawn. She scratched her arm and watched curiously as the tendons in her arm began to shake and slither.

"You're about to change…" I said as I got a closer look and touched her arm with my fingertips. Her skin had that luke-warm feel you get when you've been sweating for hours on end without cooling off very much. Lauren winced and looked at me uncomfortably.

"Have you gone through it?" she asked. Her voice sounded shaky and I could tell that her throat was dry. I nodded solemnly. I could tell she was scared. "Is it painful?" I nodded with a scowl. I shivered from the thought of my bones rearranging themselves under my skin. Not exactly my most pleasant experience.

"I had to go through it several times before I completed it. I think it was because of the Lyle House experiments." I said, "I'm still not sure that they didn't mess with anything else...Do you know what kind of tests they were doing on you?" I asked as her arms stopped wriggling and rested at her side.

"They always told me that they were trying to cure me. Like lycanthropy is some type of disease." Lauren said. She stared at the nightstand to my left, and I saw that she was in another place. A place where pokes and prods were part of daily life. A place where you hardly ever got to go outside. A place where your home was a cold room with no windows.

"Do you think that's what they were trying to do to me?" I asked. You'd think that if they were trying to get rid of the werewolf within me, my change would've been later than expected rather than earlier.

"It depends. Were you given shots after morning pills? Did they make sure you didn't eat any red meat?" she asked. My forehead wrinkled.

"No, nothing like that. They gave us drugs, but they never used a needle on me."

"In that case, probably not. Unless they were trying to use a different method on you." She said. We were quiet for a while. There wasn't really much of a way to be completely sure what they did to me. I was about to open my mouth to say that Lauren should get back to bed when movement from the other room distracted us. I looked over at a small digital alarm clock. The bright red dashes read 5:42 am.

"Looks like it's about time to get to work." I said as a light turned on and the sound of a shower running filled both rooms. "Hopefully Casey won't get us lost again. We could've been here in two days if he hadn't stopped every twenty minutes to pee." I said with a roll of my eyes. Lauren smiled lop-sidedly before getting up and walking to the other room. She had a kind of silent elegance about her, and I realized that I'd never really heard her laugh. Then again, she probably hadn't had much to laugh about in the building she'd lived her whole life. Chloe had a beautiful laugh. It was the kind that made you just want to burst out into giggles. Had she laughed since we'd left? What was she doing? Sleeping? Was Troy teaching her some new supernatural skill? Did she miss me at all?

"Dude, you need a hobby. You're getting clingy." Casey said casually as he passed through my room, buttoning up a blue over shirt.

"Would you stop reading my mind for five seconds?" I said as stretched my arms behind my back.

"I would if I could. My whole mind-thing has been going a little haywire lately. I barely slept last night 'cause I kept hearin' people's thoughts and seein' random stuff that's gonna happen today. Feel like I have some supernatural hangover or somethin'." Casey said as he grabbed a hair band from the hardwood dresser below a small tv. "By the way, your ass is about to ring. Don't bother answerin', it's a wrong number."

"Of course, just as we're about to break into Triton House, our brain-boy gets a head cold." I said pessimistically as I dismissed the next call and got up to stretch.

"Nothin' is gonna stop me from getting' Alaina back." Casey said with a deep breath. I nodded. I could understand how he felt. He was worried about someone close to him, someone that meant the world to him. I could definitely relate. I just hoped that we'd get there in time.


	2. Chapter 2

After a few hours and several week-old donuts, we found ourselves driving pain-stakingly slow outside of a newly painted white fence. I watched as Casey's eyes locked on a large white sign with the words 'Triton House' written in large blue letters as we inched by. The facility was a modern Queen Anne-style building with a white wrap-around porch. Each window was decorated with a turquoise-colored curtain and the ones on the second floor had potted flowers, most of which were purple. It all just seemed too perfect for words, but we all knew better. We all knew the kinds of thing that were going on in that place, even if the 'patients' didn't. Simon tapped my shoulder from the back seat.

"It took us longer to get here than expected. How are we going to make sure that they haven't already moved her, or-"

"She's still here." Casey cut Simon off swiftly and without emotion. His eyes switched from the side to the road as he continued to drive.

"Casey, I've never seen you so tense," Tori cooed (It wasn't exactly her style, but I wasn't going to complain as long as it kept her attention away from me) "You'd tell us if you saw anything…right?"

"Of course." Casey answered, a little too quickly for my taste. However, just as I was about to say something, he took a sharp turn down a small road to the left. He drove a few feet before pulling over and parking.

"You guys know the plan, right?" Simon asked uncertainly. Casey had switched up our plans a couple of times, saying that for some reason what he saw was going to happen kept changing. That along with the constant mind reading and headaches, I wasn't exactly reassured that this was going to be an issue-free mission.

"Don't you even have a little bit of faith in anyone but yourself?" Casey snapped at me. I found myself jumping back from the sudden outburst, hitting the back of my head against the passenger window. After all this time you would've thought I was used to having my thoughts heard. Casey's anger fled from his eyes after a few seconds and he sat back in his seat. "Sorry." He mumbled as he peeled his fingers from the steering wheel and rubbed the blonde stubble on his chin.

"Guess we're up first, Simon." Tori said as she opened the door and climbed out. Simon looked at me, as if I could reassure him, but there was nothing I could say.

"We'll walk ya up to the sign, but you two are on your own from there." Casey drawled, and with that, we all follow Tori out of the car and tried to walk as non-chalantly as possible. As we walked around the bend, Tori's eyes found themselves locked on the Triton House, just like those of an owl intent on its prey. For once I have to say that I agreed with what Tori was doing.

As she familiarized herself with the building, Simon was busily kicking pebbles across the skin-colored dust, his hands firmly shoved into the pockets of his plaid kapris. I could tell that he wasn't as confident as he had been when we left the hotel. Come to think of it, he hadn't been very sure about anything for at least a month. This whole mess had sucked away his easy-going, care-free attitude and left him a walking mass of nerves. I couldn't help but feel guilty. I knew he had forgiven me with the whole situation with Chloe, but I knew that it shrank his pride more than I would ever be able to understand. I doubted that the others could see the change in him; they hadn't spent most of their lives with him. They didn't know just how easily he could put on a mask of happiness. It was hard to believe just how much he'd changed…come to think of it, we'd all changed in out own way. Casey had grown more serious than when we had first met him, Chloe was no longer a normal, innocent girl, I actually tried to control my temper, and even Tori was starting to care about what other people thought and did more than herself.

I breathed in the tangy aroma of the mustard flowers in the field across from our destination, letting the unique scent temporarily distract me from thinking about the innocence of adolescence that we had all lost way too soon. I watched a dried leaf fall in the humid breeze and wished Chloe was here to see the strangely beautiful Colorado landscape. Sure it didn't stir up a bunch of my emotions, but I had a feeling that it might give her some inspiration or whatever. Like I said, it didn't stir anything in me. You can leave me with math and science, but creativity isn't exactly my department.

"Ok, as soon as the signal comes, you guys get lost. But keep an eye on us, just in case." Casey commanded Tori and Simon, who had slowed down a lot and were now trotting a few feet behind us, both sets of eyes now fixed on the facility's green-trimmed patio. Tori nodded and waved the three of us on, completely occupied with the job at hand. Going on without them was like trying to drag a wheelbarrow full of cement. Though I'd been forced to several times, I didn't like splitting up, especially from Simon. However, I made myself keep my pace with Lauren and Casey.

After about two tense minutes of glancing behind our shoulder and kicking up dirt, the pitchy sound of a fire alarm rang through the landscape. That was our signal. Casey spun on his heel and practically flew through the dust. He was our key element. Tori and Simon's job was to use their powers to set a small fire under the patio (Tori probably was responsible for most of it, since her powers were way more developed), Casey was going to be the one to grab Alaina, and Lauren and I were the backup. Superhuman strength does come in handy in emergencies.

Lauren and I speedily followed Casey over the fence and behind a grove of trees. For someone without physical powers, he sure was agile. I craned my neck to catch sight of Simon, but him and Tori were already long gone.

"There she is!" Casey whispered excitedly, obviously having a hard time keeping his voice down. A fond smile grew on his face as he watched a slender, redheaded girl emerge from the front door after a top-heavy man and chubby woman. I counted the kids that followed behind her. There were four kids (more like inmates) in all. It was then that the fate of the others occurred to me. The old Derek would've just grabbed Casey's sister and run. Simple objective, simple follow-through. But, after months at Lyle house, after realizing that Simon, dad and I weren't the only ones that could make a difference, I'd changed. I couldn't leave the three others to whatever outcome the Triton House scientists had planned. I tried to catch Casey's shoulder, but he was too fast, too eager. By the time my hand clutched the empty air, he was already racing across the yard to the side of the house, trying to stay out of sight.

"Crap..." I said before turning to my sister. "We can't leave the others." Lauren stared at me in surprise for a moment. She bit her lip and peeked around the trunk of the tree to see Casey frantically beckoning us to come to his side.

"Do you really think we'll be able to?" She asked uncertainly.

"I don't know, but I'm not leaving unless they're all safe." I replied before running to Casey. Lauren's light footsteps followed, and she was beside me in an instant.

"I'm going to try transferring my thoughts," Casey said "If that doesn't work, I'll need you guys to knock out the aids or cause a distraction or somethin'." Casey had tried 'transferring' his thoughts to Tori a couple of times, but Tori's headache was the only result. I didn't spend much time thinking about that, but instead looking at the other three patients (besides Alaina). Two identical twin boys (obviously in their early teens) and a short girl in skinny jeans and a pink hoodie.

I looked away from them when Casey groaned and fell to his hands and knees. Lauren gasped and tried to help him up, but his eyes were squeezed shut. He just sat there, wincing every few seconds, as if his pain came in waves. I was about to push Lauren out of the way and pick Casey up when a shadow fell over his crouched body. Alaina's bright green eyes were wide and confused as she stared at her twitching brother.

"Lauren, get them out of here." I commanded and rounded the corner. So much for strategy. The next few moments were a complete blur of shocked faces and confused, scream-like sounds. I want to say I actually picked up one of the twins and plopped them over the fence, but I can't be sure. All I know is that everyone was terrified until Alaina's voice told them that it was ok, I was helping them. That made things a lot easier. At least until I heard Lauren shriek and a fire extinguisher bashed into the back of my head. There was a sickening clang of metal on bones, and then everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3

I don't know how long I floated in the velvety curtain of darkness. I did nothing. I didn't even think. It was as if I could pretend that I never existed, and that made it so.

"Come on, Derek." An unfamiliar voice was what began to bring me back from my numbed state. I started tingling all over, like an arm or a leg that you move after it's been asleep for a while. "That's it. You need to wake up and find a way out of here." I could tell now that it was a female voice. Chloe? I didn't think it sounded like her, but I had been out of it for so long, I couldn't be sure.

My memories slowly began flowing back into my brain, yet every single one of them seemed unreal. I was a werewolf? My foster brother was a wizard? I'd been knocked out by a fire extinguisher while trying to kidnap kids from a group home? It all seemed too outrageous to be my life. As I forced myself into believing my bizarre reality, the back of my head started to sting and throb. Though I couldn't reach back, I know if I felt the back of my head I'd be greeted by the stickiness of my dried blood intertwined with clumps of thick hair. It hurt like hell, but it was nothing compared to the feeling of Liam's canine teeth clamping down on my shoulder blade, or my bones rearranging themselves under my skin.

I could feel my limbs now; feel the smooth, cold restraints that bit into my wrists and ankles. The rest of my body was cushioned by a rough sheet that had been starched so many times that it had started feeling like the surface of a wooden desk. I wasn't quite sitting upright, but I wasn't lying completely flat on my back either. The smell of anti-bacterial soup and bleach stained my nostrils. I wanted to open my eyes, but I thought better of it. The longer they thought I was unconscious and helpless, the better my chances of sneaking away. I listened closely to see if there was anyone else in the room, but all I heard was the sound of a rotating fan working at full power.

The air from the fan blew on me, bringing up goose bumps as I realized I was completely naked except for my boxers. I'd been sweating, and it felt like each inch of my skin was covered in ice. I did generate a lot of heat, but even I could barely stand the coldness of the room.

After a few minutes of listening, I finally decided to take a chance. I opened my eyes slowly and was surprised by the stunning brightness of the room. The white brick seemed to reflect the light from the florescent bulbs above me straight into my unsuspecting pupils. I looked down (at least as much downward as you can when strapped down) to see that I was in a hospital bed, which explained why I wasn't sitting upright or lying flat. It was the same kind that we'd had to put Simon in when he was first diagnosed with diabetes. The kind with the little buttons on the plastic sleeve to control the position of the mattress.

I tested the cuffs that kept me securely tied to the bed frame. They were strong, and about as loose as a pair of skinny jeans (not that I would know from experience). If I was going to get out of there, I was going to need someone to unlock the binds, or find some ay to break them. I was strong, but I doubted that I could successfully separate the steel.

"Someone's coming!" a voice whispered in my head; the same one from before. I instantly jammed my eyelids closed. I didn't know who or what it was, but I wasn't going to take the warning lightly. Sure enough, a few seconds later, the sound of high-heels on tile reached my ears. I tried to maintain my sleep-like breathing as I heard the door open and close. I felt observing eyes scan my body. I refrained from tensing as the mystery person lifted my head, evidently checking out my wound. Strong perfume nearly made me choke, and long nails icily tickled the back of my neck as they examined my head. I made the mistake of twitching my arm, a reflex to feeling the tender skin at the back of my neck being touched. The woman paused, frozen in place.

"Are you awake now Mr. Souza?" the woman asked. Her voice was saturated with gentleness, but I knew better. I knew that the scientists were excellent actors. I kept completely still and hoped that she'd shrug off my random movement as something else. But, I wasn't that lucky. Then again, I hardly ever am. "I don't tolerate lying, Mr. Souza." The lady said in the tone of a strict teacher running out of patience. I remained still until the back of my neck started to warm up, like your muscles when you've been playing sports and decided to use icy-hot gel. The heat rapidly grew less tolerable until it felt like an ember being held against my skin and I had to grit my teeth and let out a shocked cry of pain. "That's what I thought." A cinnamon-skinned woman in a blue dress and white doctor's coat smirked at me.

"Rae?" I said as she withdrew her fingers. She looked several years older with her black curls now cropped short and heels adding an extra couple of inches to her height. Her smile faded slightly as she took a notebook from under her arm and flipped through the pages. "Rae, you know this isn't right. They are using you…they used all of us for their sick little experiments. You know-"

"Derek Souza. Age seventeen, two hundred and thirty-two pounds. Six feet seven inches tall. Superhuman strength and senses due to Lycanthropy. Last seen fleeing an abandoned house in the outskirts of New York." Rae read my statistics from a paper in front of her. "Now tell me," she said condescendingly "What brought you to Colorado? And why so unprepared?" Rae looked at me expectantly, as if her stare could easily make me spill my guts.

"What happened to you? I asked, avoiding the questions. "How did you go from controlled experiment to wannabe scientist?" Rae looked down at her notebook, and I could almost see remorse in her expression. But, it vanished within seconds. She wiped her bangs out of her eyes and turned her gaze to me without emotion.

"A lot of things have changed." She stated blankly. "Besides, I'm not the one lying under observation." She seemed so different. I had never been close to Rae, but she'd always seemed happy and full of life and attitude. This woman standing in front of me just wasn't her. "You can either answer my questions, or your new medication will start today. Your choice. Now, I'm going to ask again. Why did you trespass on Triton House property?" I let silence fill the room. I'd die before I'd rat out my friends. Huh…I'd never really thought of them as friends before. They were all more like family. Sheesh, I really was different.

"Alright, we'll start administering Lauren and Derek Souza's medication immediately." My heart stopped. They'd gotten Lauren? Suddenly the silence seemed to squeeze me, trying to push the words from my vocal chords and into the room. If Lauren was stuck here, it was all my fault for taking a stupid risk.

"She's lying! Lauren's safe with us." The voice told me. I couldn't be sure that it was the truth, but it helped me cling on to something other than hopelessness. Rae paused before leaving me alone in the empty room, the door slamming behind her.

"Is this…is this Alaina?" I asked, not caring if there was a camera watching me. I glanced around for something—anything that would give me a clue as to where I was.

"Yes." The voice confirmed my assumption. At least I wasn't starting to hear things. Me going crazy wasn't exactly something I'd be enthused about.

"How do you know what's going on here? How are you talking to me right now?" I interrogated. What I needed now was information.

"We're not completely sure…I've just been concentrating and it's working. I'm still a little new at the whole 'you have superpowers' thing." She said, the uncertainty seeping into her voice like water seeping through someone's fingers. "But that's not important right now, I'll explain when you're not strapping to a hospital bed. You need to find a way out of there before Rae comes back. Before you become their newest guinea pig."

"Yeah, not exactly the world's easiest task." I mumbled as I yanked at my binds, as if I didn't already know I wasn't strong enough to break them. I expected a reply, but a couple of minutes went by and I got nothing in return. I couldn't say I'd blame her. What could she say? That I should try to break the bed frame? Not likely without getting shocked or having two drag around to pieces of plastic. Plus, I was certain the moment I got to my feet I'd be restrained by who knows how many security guards. "I can't get out of here on my own." I said, feeling more useless than ever before. I'd always been able to do things by myself. Sure, I'd had dad and Simon, but if I could take care of something without bugging them, I would. Then I remembered how Chloe had stuck with me several times as I changed. Around her I'd transformed from an emotionless brick wall to a baby in her arms.

I found myself wondering what she would do if I was here. Would she find a ghost? Would she be able to get us out of here? Would she risk everything for my safety? I shivered as I was reminded of what Rae planned on doing to Chloe if she came anywhere near this place (wherever that was). I was about to ask Alaina if I was still in Colorado when the fan in front of me abruptly stopped. I had to crane my neck to see that somehow the dial had been switched to 'off'. I hadn't heard or seen anyone come in. Was Rae messing with me? If so, why? She already had me in her custody, and turning off a fan definitely wasn't going to make me squeal on my friends' whereabouts.

I quickly put it off as a bad electrical circuit and asked out loud where I was. I didn't get a response from Alaina, but a piece of paper flapping in my face was a sort of reply.

I dodged to keep from paper cuts and sunk back into the pillow to get a look at the baby blue writing on the paper, which wasn't exactly easy when it was shaking all over the place. I'd swear my intestines lodged themselves into my throat.

"CHLOE'S HERE." Was the text scribbled across its white face.

"What the hell?" I screeched out loud, the shrill voice coming from my mouth not at all like my own.

"I can't read it, what does it say?" Alaina asked, but I could barely hear her over the jumbled thoughts in my head that were twisting and entwining themselves with each other, like several vines being tangled worse and worse by my confusion. Even if I had cared enough to reply, I probably wouldn't have been able to utter the words. The paper wasn't right, it couldn't be. A furious tapping on the wall behind me interrupted my thoughts. All I could do was hope it wasn't Chloe.


	4. Chapter 4

"Chloe!" I yelled at the wall behind me. The tapping stopped, but the terrible thoughts spinning around in my head didn't.

It was unbelievably difficult to keep myself from going completely numb, but somehow I was able to summon enough strength to ask "Where!" I wasn't sure if I was asking the spirit or Alaina, but I had to find out the answer.

"Uh oh…" was Alaina's hesitant response.

"What the hell is uh oh?" I questioned frantically "Where the fuck is Chloe?" I swallowed hard to try and keep my throat from turning into sandpaper, but it didn't do very much. The paper that had at one time been in my face was now out of sight. I squirmed, trying to break the cuffs. I didn't care what my logic was telling me, all I wanted was to find Chloe and bring her somewhere safe, somewhere far away from Rae and this nut-house. I pulled furiously at my binds until I felt a warm liquid glide down my wrist and onto the plastic. I couldn't even feel the cuts. Animal sounds similar to the ones I made when I was changing slipped from my throat and echoed through the room.

"Calm down Derek! People are coming!" Alaina's voice ordered inside my head, seeming to pound against my skill. But I couldn't stop, couldn't restrain myself. Even the glinting lens of the security camera in the corner couldn't give me enough power to make me stop. It was as if some animal instinct inside me had been switched on, and there was nothing I could do to turn it off. I pounded my fists on the plastic sleeves and listened to the frame groan and whined as I tried to force my ankles upward.

Alaina's words were a jumble of frantic screeches, but I didn't care. I knew I was out of control, but I couldn't stop. I couldn't stop when I heard lumbering footsteps from the hallway outside of my room. I couldn't stop when two men the size of playground slides gripped my body to keep me from my seizure-like state. I couldn't stop when they tried and failed at piercing a needle into my vein. I nearly bit one of the men's fingers off as the shoved a couple of huge pills down my throat. The metallic taste of the man's blood ran over my tongue long after he bashed me hard in the head to make me take my teeth out of his hand. I went on like a wild beast for at least fifteen minutes, the men working to restrain me. Then everything (for the second time in the past few hours) became drenched in black.

The bed that I had been tied to hadn't been very comfortable, but it was like a day at the spa compared to where I found myself next.  
When I felt myself being moved along with the whining of wheels, my eyes inched open to reveal nothing but a snow-white blur. The whiteness seemed lighter, then darker, and then lighter again, and I knew I was being scooted along a hallway with sparse lights. I wondered for several seconds if I'd gone blind. I then assumed that the men must've completely loaded me with drugs, since it took me a while to realize my vision was fine; there was just a sheet over my face and body. I tried to move my arm up so that I could feel my face, but it simply flopped to the side. A sudden decrease in my arm's temperature told me that it had fallen out of the sheet draped across me. The whining stopped along with the flashing of lights. Everything felt still, even my heart, I held what little breath I had and tried to concentrate of the sound of my heartbeat that seemed completely silent.

Before I got a chance to hear anything, someone pushed my arm back under the sheet. The flesh that had rearranged my limb felt so warm, like a stovetop that was hearing up. It wasn't until then that I became aware of the icy cold metal that I was laying in, as stiff and lifeless as I felt. The wheels restarted, and I tried to move my arm again, but it was futile. It was as if my arm was no longer part of me, as if I had absolutely no control over it. It didn't feel like I was in charge of any part of my body anymore. My damp hair hung loosely over my face, partially covering my vision. Every dark brown strand looked dull and brittle, as if someone could just bend a piece and it would break off like a brittle twig.

Suddenly, the sheet was peeled from my face. I attempted to close my eyes to shield them from the intense light, but my eyelids wouldn't budge. What the hell had they given me?

I felt the sheet being folded across my chest to where my shoulders up were the only things visible. Because of my seemingly frozen pupils, it took time for me to focus on a short, hairy man with glasses and a surgical mask. He was observing my face, like an art critic observing a painting.

"I want a full autopsy." I heard Rae's voice from somewhere to my left, the opposite side of where the man was standing. I knew she was leaning over me, staring at my face just like the man was. I wanted so badly to jump up and wring her neck before she had a chance to light Chloe on fire…then I wondered if she had already taken her chance while I was out. Casey's vision involved me trying in vain to save Chloe, but me being out cold might've slightly changed that fate. Then Rae words suddenly came back to me and chimed in my ears. Had she really said autopsy? Wouldn't it be a biopsy if I was still alive? Then I realized that maybe I was dead.

It made sense (kind of). I couldn't move anything, I couldn't hear my heartbeat, and I couldn't even detect the shallowest breathing coming from my lungs. My mind started making connections like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle falling into place. I'd finally done it. I'd finally gotten myself killed, just like everyone had joked about only a few days before. I'd finally become too much to handle, therefore I must've been added to the ever-growing list of supernaturals to be disposed of.

Rae and the man's voice seemed to meld together as one while I thought of the life that I would miss. Some people from my old schools would claim that I was always sulking and deep in depression, but there's a big difference between being shy and being emo. I didn't wan to die. I'd miss playing basketball with Simon, getting to know Lauren, laughing with Casey, kissing Chloe…Oh God what I would've done to feel Chloe's lips on mine at that moment. All I wanted to do was lie next to her, to taste her soft breath, to sing her safely to sleep. I'd tell her it was ok to rest; she didn't have to be afraid to sleep when I was there. She wouldn't have to worry about trapping a soul in a dead body.

For the first time since I'd come to, I felt something; the feeling of cold understanding seep through the cracks in my heart. Chloe could put souls back in bodies. She was supposedly nearby. That would explain why I was staring up at a mortician. My mortician. If I'd been able to move I think I would've thrown up. I wanted so badly to be wrong, but I knew there was a strong possibility that my assumption was correct. Chloe was nearly as thick-skulled as I was, and if she really loved me as much as she'd told me, I wouldn't doubt that she'd try to keep me tied down to Earth as long as she could. I didn't want to leave her and this world behind, but there was no way I was going to end up like those things that had attacked us in the Lyle House basement.

"I should be done sometime tomorrow." The voices above me pulled me away from my conclusion.

"Good." Rae said, and her voice was immediately followed by the swift clicking of high heels. The man turned out of sight, and I heard the sharp clinking of steel. This lasted a few seconds before he turned back around, holding a glinting scalpel over my chest. He pulled back the sheet even lower, to where I rested on my waist. I'd felt warmth when he'd touched my arm, so did that mean that I could still feel pain too? I prayed—something I don't do much—that I'd be oblivious of the feeling of a blade slicing through my flesh.

The man started by whipping a cotton ball (which he had been holding in his other hand) across the middle of my chest. It had some kind of residue on it, which I assumed was to sterilize the spot where he'd cut me open. I didn't feel anything as the tip of the scalpel disappeared under my skin, but, as it slid downward, the flesh separating sent a sharp sting through me. I felt like I was twitching, but I knew I wasn't moving.

Just as he had brought the scalpel about four or five inches down my torso, a siren ran through the room. The man jumped, and the knife went in a little more than expected, and I knew if he let go of the scalpel it would've been able to stand by itself. It hurt, but I knew it wasn't anything compared to what would've happened if he hadn't taken it out and taken off his surgical mask. I only thought that just-in-time kind of thing only happened in movies, but feeling of the sheet falling back on my face along with the sound of precise footsteps told me that I really been saved by the bell. I could relax for the moment, but the image of that scalpel tensed above me told me that I was in a world of trouble.


	5. Chapter 5

The man didn't hesitate to shut off the light on his way out, leaving me in total darkness. I tried to focus only on moving my right arm. However, time passed, and still the only thing I could feel was the subtle weight of the sheet across my body. I wanted to scream. Something to let out the frustration I was feeling.

"Derek? Derek, are you in here?" A hushed voice sliced through the silence. I knew who it was immediately, but my still lips couldn't form the name my heart ached to shout. "Derek…Oh God…" the sound of her heartbreak caused me to battle the numbness I was surrounded in. As I struggled to move my frozen body, Chloe's stutters came closer. "Oh G-g-od. N-n-no oh m-my God…" Dim light shined through the sheet, and I wanted to close my eyes. The shadow of her shivering hand passed over the sheet, pulling it off of my face.

I'd never seen anyone's face completely drain of blood like hers did that second. The flashlight in her hand twitched for a few seconds before it fell to the floor with a thud. A strangled whimper made my heart tear in two. No matter what pain I'd been through, nothing could ever measure up to what hit me the moment I felt Chloe's warm tears cascade down my icy neck.

"Derek? Are you still in here?" she wept, obviously having trouble keeping her nerves under control. I heard her dropping to her knees, her fingers scanning the floor for her dropped flashlight. "Derek?" she blubbered again. Then it hit me. She was asking if I was still there. That meant that she hadn't brought me back to my body…unless she accidentally did it in her sleep…God, I hated being full of questions and hardly any answers.

"Chloe, I know you're in pain, but his spirit must be gone by now. Lets get-" another familiar voice sounded through the room, but stopped abruptly. It was high and sounded like a young girl, but I couldn't place it until Chloe picked up the flashlight and angled it above my face. Liz's small nose was only an inch or two away from my own, her slender, blonde eyebrows arched.

"What is it?" Chloe sniffed and looked around nervously.

"He's still there, can't you see it?" Liz asked, her translucent blonde hair tickling the skin on my shoulders. Chloe took a step closer to the table, though the poise of her lips and the paleness of her cheeks told met that she was about ready to throw up.

"St-till here? You m-m-mean in his b-body?" Chloe gasped, unable to hide the hope that seeped through her teeth. Liz nodded and narrowed her eyes, as if she was inspecting me. She looked the exact same as she had the night they took her away, right down to her pink cheeks. I guessed that if I could look down I would've seen her giraffe socks.

"I don't get it. It's like he's there, but he's not…" Liz's words only made me more confused. Liz gave me one last glance before disappearing from view. "We need to get out of here before they come back. Especially if you think Casey's vision really could mean something."

"We can't just leave Derek here like this." Chloe declared. Damn. Chloe was trying to be a hero more and more often.

"I'm all for finding a way to save him, but don't you think-"

"No. We're bringing him back." Chloe interjected. Her demanding, stuborn tone was a huge contrast to the wavering sobs she'd been uttering a few minutes before. No matter how much I wanted her to leave me behind, I knew that that just wasn't her. That wouldn't be the Chloe I'd fallen for. The one that usually showed more courage than brains. The one that was more than happy to hurl herself into the water to keep me from drowning. Ugh.

"C'mon Alaina, I know you can hear me…I need your help…" Chloe whined. I listened carefully, but there definitely wasn't a third person in the room. Chloe must've been able to hear Alaina in her head too. I'd never been so confused.

Suddenly, maroon-colored light spewed across the ceiling. It bathed me in its waves of color, bringing a strange, warm tingle along with it. Within seconds I was completely engulfed in heat, which was a huge contrast to the chill I'd been feeling before. Familiar voices sounded around me, but my vision remained clouded in color.

"Oh my God, what's wrong with him?"

"Don't just leave him on the ground! Put him on one of the beds."

"What's the point? He looks pretty dead to me."

"Shut the hell up!"

The words were swapped aggressively, and I listened, trying to define who everyone was. I was about to give up when a small hole of white ripped into the deep, swelling red around me. A ceiling? The hole gradually grew, soon showing me that it wasn't the ceiling, but the pale face of a redheaded girl, her eyes squinted intensely behind her rectangular glasses.

"Chloe's friend is right. There's still some sort of energy there." She said, looking up for only a second before turning back to me, her small, freckled nose pointed at my face.

"What about getting her back here too? It makes me nervous to know that she's there after Casey's vision." I heard Simon say from somewhere nearby. I was thankful to hear his voice, but the words that passed his lips disturbed me. Since they somehow got me here, couldn't they get Chloe too? She was the real one in danger.

"I would if I could…" Alaina let the soft whir of the air conditioner take the place of her empty words.

The thought that Alaina could apparently bring me to safety and not Chloe enraged me. My temper flared, and I suddenly felt warmer. I fought with my limp limbs for what felt like hours. Though my lips didn't move, my heart was screaming.

"Derek, just relax and don't let your body be the cage." Soothing whispers flooded my eardrums. I knew right away who it was. There was no way I could mistake the voice of the man I hadn't seen in months; my dad.

"Stop trying so hard. Realize that you don't need force to free your soul." He said calmly. I tried to find his face, but it was no where to be found. I was confused. How would relaxing help me at a time like this? Was I just supposed to let myself lay there uselessly? Then again, my dad had never led me wrong before, why would he start now?

I concentrated on nothing but my thoughts. Thoughts of Chloe. Thoughts of freedom.

You'd probably imagine being freed from my body as uplifting, refreshing. That I'd just float around like the wind. That was exactly what I expected, but not exactly the case.

A cracking sound echoed around me as I was lifted—almost forced out of my numb body. Everything suddenly felt heavier, like I'd just gotten soaking wet while wearing a fur coat. I found myself standing next to my body, staring down at the green eyes I'd seen every time I looked in a mirror. They seemed pale now, lifeless, and it made me shiver to look at them. I turned away and started walking towards the door, which was no easy task since my legs felt like they'd gained about thirty pounds.

"What the hell…" I said as I scooted my legs across the carpet. Everyone in the room had stopped talking and were looking directly at me, each set of eyes wide with confusion.

"I'm guessing that's Derek." Alaina said, obviously having trouble decided whether to stare at my body or my spirit, which apparently everyone could see. Casey nodded, forcing his surprised mouth closed.

So I was now half-dead, out of my body, everyone could see and hear me, and Chloe was God knows where being attacked by God knows what. This wasn't exactly turning out to be the best day ever.


	6. Chapter 6

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down. I can't concentrate on anything when you're all talking at the same time." I said. I had to raise my voice to be heard over the clash of excited explanations.

To recap, it was about a half an hour later, and everyone had started rushing through they're version of how we'd gotten into this situation. I'd already informed them of what had happened to me, and though I longed to bust out the door and get to Chloe, but I knew the more strategic thing to do was to get as much information as possible beforehand. Besides, sprinting to the rescue wasn't any use when you didn't even know where you were supposed to be sprinting to. It was my turn to get some details.

"As soon as the workers and Triton House knocked you out, everyone got out of there as fast as possible." Tori explained once everyone had quieted down. "Except for Casey and Simon of course. I had to drag their dumb asses away." She glared over at the two blonde boys, who merely shrugged back.

"I'd do it again too." Casey murmured as he leaned farther back in the beige love seat he'd been sharing with Tori. I couldn't help but smirk; it looked like Simon wasn't the only brother I had anymore.

"Anyway, we practically threw the kidnapped teens in the bed of the truck and drove off." Tori finished.

"Probably the first halfway bad-ass thing Ken over here has ever done." A newer face said, gesturing her eyes toward Simon, who glared. It took me a minute to remember her as 'the girl with the pink hoodie' that we had stolen from Triton. She looked much different now, wearing a black tube-top with her slender fingers curled around a can of Sprite. Her eyes were drenched in mascara and mocking laughter.

"You'd still be in the hell-hole if it wasn't for us." Simon hissed. It didn't sound like they'd been getting along too well.

"Don't take it so serious. I like Ezra." Tori grinned at the girl, who returned the gesture.

"Of course you do, you're both children of Satan." Simon mumbled and blew his bangs from his face. It seemed like he'd just gotten Tori off his case, and now there was a new harasser.

"Go on." I said, hoping to spare him from any more torture.

"Once we got here, we started trying to figure out a way to get you back. And then Alaina told us about this…thing she can do." Casey said.

"I can concentrate on certain objects and call them to me." Alaina clarified. "Sort of like teleportation." I nodded, trying to get a grasp on the new concept.

"And that's how you got me here." I stated, thankful to put at least a fraction of the puzzle together. "That's not how Chloe got here though…right?" I said, the last word of my preposition coming out like a grunt. The room went silent and Alaina broke our eye contact, giving me my unfortunate non-verbal answer. "Damn it…" I cursed, standing up. I'd wasted enough time sitting there talking that I could've been using to save Chloe.

"I'm sorry," Alaina said, reaching for my arm. She stopped halfway, probably taking time to wonder whether or not her hand would go right through me or not. "I was communicating with you when someone said Chloe's name…I made a mistake…I'm not exactly an expert yet." She sounded sympathetic and regretful, but I didn't care. All that mattered was that I was here safe, and Chloe was somewhere else in danger. I didn't answer, but kept moving towards the door.

"Where are you going?" I heard Simon call.

"Where do you think?" I called back. I didn't bother looking around.

"What are you going to do, you look like you're struggling just to walk." Casey pointed out. "Besides, how are you going to get there?"

"I heard dad. He's here somewhere. I'll get a hold of him somehow. I don't care if I'm dead, I'm getting Chloe out of there." I said through gritted teeth, hoping that he'd just back down.

"You're not quite dead." Lauren announced as she strolled into the room, slamming shut a cheap, plastic cell phone. I froze. Part of me wanted—needed to get to Chloe, but the other yearned for any kind of explanation.

"What do you mean?" I asked, looking carefully over my shoulder.

"According to Trent, you're not dead…but you're not really alive either." Lauren stated, glancing nervously at my limp body that remained on the pink and white paisley sheets. She didn't look like her mind was at ease. That wasn't a surprise given our current situation, but the beads of sweat running down her white forehead told me that she was concerned with more than just getting Chloe to safety. She was going to change. Soon. "You're in limbo."

"Limbo?" I thought out loud, letting my worries about my sister drift to the back of my brain for the moment. "You mean like purgatory?" Dad, Simon, and I had never been religious, so I didn't know a whole lot about those two words, just that they were at least semi-related and were somewhere between heaven and hell.

"Limbo and Purgatory aren't the same thing." A timid voice came from my far right. I looked over to see one of the rescued twins staring at me with a mixture of caution and curiosity. I couldn't really blame him. I mean, I was translucent. I sighed. As if I needed another reason to be considered a freak.

"I know what you mean." Lauren said, sparing me from my self-consciousness. "But not exactly. Trent isn't going by any Catholic beliefs, just his own experience. He said you can call it something else if you want, but Limbo seemed to be a good name for it." Lauren peeled off her damp sweatshirt. "He said the condition is caused by severe trauma that would kill a normal person. But, like all of us here, you aren't exactly normal." The girl that had been standing in the doorway opened her mouth as if to say something, but a pair of narrowed blue eyes from Simon made her jaw slam shut.

"Whatever they injected into you, they assumed would kill you. Thankfully, they were wrong." Lauren continued, ignoring the two feuding teens and leaning down to scratch a part of her lower leg that appeared to be twitching. "It only made your body unusable, for the moment. Troy said there's a chance we can fix it. In the meantime, your soul is still tied down to earth, and you won't be able to go to the other side." Lauren paused for just a second, glancing upward to remember everything else Troy had shared with her. "You're just like a normal deceased spirit, besides the facts people don't have to be necromancers to see you and things won't go right through you unless you want them to. The good news about your condition is that you're pretty much indestructible at this point. The bad news is that it's going to take a lot of time, a necromancer, and witchcraft to get you back in your body." Lauren took a quick look a Tori and Simon, who nodded.

"Guess the next thing to do is to retrieve our necromancer." Casey said suddenly, standing up and grabbing a gray and black plaid over shirt from the corner of the bed. He just wasn't going to give up and let me go alone. I would've been grateful to have his help, but the fact that he could get hurt and I couldn't bugged me. There was already so much at stake, and the last thing I needed was blood to stain my already tainted conscience.

"Casey, I-"

"No." Casey's brown eyes flashed at me. Not in an angry way, just in a manner that showed he could be just as thick skulled as me. I smirked at him. "I'm goin'. And don't be thinkin' nasty thoughts about me neither."

"Me too. I wouldn't be a brother if I didn't." Simon said, taking his place beside Casey. This was so clique I felt like I was going to hurl.

"Just as long as you guys do what I tell you to." I mumbled, knowing there was no way out of this. "Now lets get the whole 'oh captain my captain' moment over with and get to Chloe. Do you know exactly where you sent her? Where they were keeping me?" I asked, switching my attention to Alaina, who was now sitting on one of the beds. I quickly figured out that she wasn't in the room with us anymore. Not mentally anyway.

Alaina sat cross-legged on the puffy hotel blanket, her fingers digging into the fabric of her light blue jeans. Her pupils looked unnaturally dialated, and her eyebrows were furrowed in deep concentration. If she didn't have such a far-off look on her face, I would've assumed she was focusing on something that was in the room with us. Her lips twitched for a couple of seconds before forming silent words. She nodded, her ears apparently hearing a response that none of us could hear. I could swear my heart shuddered with a blend of relief and fear. I knew she was talking to Chloe, but I had no idea where she was and what was happening to her at the moment.

"Please tell me she's alright." I said, sounding much more whiney than I'd wanted.

"She won't answer you until she's done talking." Simon whispered, his stare fixed on our communicator. I stood and watched, just like everyone else, though my patience was swiftly running out. After what felt like days of anticipation, Alaina stopped mouthing words and blinked She jumped back slightly, as if she'd just woken up from an intense dream.

"What's going on? Where is she?" I questioned immediately, not giving her any time to come back from wherever her mind had gone. The corners of Alaina's mouth slowly curled upward.

"Chloe's fine. She said to tell you that she can take care of herself sometimes." Alaina replied. My face went blank with surprise. "She said she created a distraction and got away. After that she walked until she came to a small town. She's inside the Peachway library. There are a lot of people there, so Rae and everybody else from the facility probably won't come after her."

"Peachway…" Casey muttered. "I think I know where that is. It's near downtown."

"But…how?" I said. I was relieved, but I definitely wasn't going to let my guard down. I didn't think I'd ever be able to do that again.

"She said she'd explain everything later. Just hurry up and get her before the library closes." Alaina brought her legs back around the side of the mattress, resting her sneakers on the floor. The tension seemed to build, and I could tell that I wasn't the only one that thought this was all too easy.

"What if it's a trap?" Ezra said. Even the new girl was suspicious.

"What if it isn't?" Simon questioned back. Ezra turned up her nose at him.

"Simon's right. There's only one way to find out whether or not it's a trap. We need to get over there. Fast." Lauren admitted as she wiped the perspiration from her eyes and glanced at a bird-decorated clock that was hanging on the wall behind Alaina. It was almost five in the evening, and we had no idea when Peachway closed.

I was the first to make a move for the door (which I literally walked through. It would've been cool if I wasn't so stressed out). If this wasn't a trap, Chloe was alone at the other side of town with nothing but a library as her temporary protection. I'd gotten all the information I needed for the moment, and all I wanted was to make sure Chloe wouldn't be burning to death any time soon.

"Tori, Simon, you come with us, just in case. Lauren, Alaina, I think you should stay here and baby sit." Casey ordered as he bolted after me. The drive ahead was going to feel like an eternity.


	7. Chapter 7

I'd never taken a longer car ride in my entire life. If I'd known how to get to the library on my own, I would've jumped out of the old truck and ran down the road rather then let myself be confined to the passenger seat another minute. Every inch the tires traveled felt like a mile, and the stares from everyone else on the street didn't exactly help.

"Yeah, take a long look." I growled to a teenage couple who'd been staring at me since we'd been halted by a stop light. I'd been biting my tongue to keep the ornery words in my mouth, but I couldn't take it any longer. The light had turned green, and yet the two still gawked at me with stupid, spellbound faces. "The light changed, moron!" I shouted over the honking and cussing cars in line behind them. The boy in the driver seat looked forward with a start before jamming his foot on the gas of his dark blue convertable and making his way through the intersection. "Rubberneckers…" I muttered. I wasn't in the mood to tolerate that kind of crap.

"Aw, how cute. It looks like we've got old, angsty Derek back." Tori cooed with pursed lips. I turned and gave her my signature scowl for a few seconds before turning back and rolling up the passenger window. The windows weren't tinted, but I thought it would be enough to hide my nearly clear skin. If it didn't work, at least it would put something between the watchers and myself.

"You can't really blame them. You're a see-through guy with nothing on but boxers." Simon pointed out from the back seat. I looked down, realizing for the first time what I was—or more accurately—what I wasn't wearing. I'd been so preoccupied with everything else that I hadn't even noticed that I was nearly naked. Fantastic.

"This day keeps gettin' better, huh?" Casey said as he made a sharp left turn. I exhaled, trying to temporarily distract myself by gazing at a patch of gray clouds that were floating together in the evening sky like a giant, dark birds nest.

Finally, my eyes found a small white building with a tennis court on the side. Huge pink and gold letters above the glass doors read 'Peach Way Library'. I reached for the door handle, but the clicking sound of the lock stopped me.

"Sorry man, you're already pretty easy to spot in a crowd, without the benefit of being translucent and in your underwear. The last thing we need to do is to cause a scene." Simon said as he crawled out of the back seat and onto blacktop of the parking lot.

"But what if-"

"Don't worry sunshine, we'll call you the second we need backup. Just try not to chew up the leather while we're gone." Tori interrupted right before she slammed the door. I smacked the dusty dashboard in frustration, but I didn't make another attempt to leave. I knew they were right. I didn't even want to picture the looks I'd get if I just waltzed in there. Ever since dad and Simon had taken me in, I'd known that most normal people weren't usually willing to accept things that they didn't understand. It would be complete chaos, and I was sure that Rae and her team would be on the scene soon afterward.

I watched the backs of my three friends as they walked casually towards the library doors. It seemed strange that they could act so normal. Pretend that they were just like everybody else that browsed the shelves of books. I have to admit that I was getting pretty jealous. I raised my hand up against the window and looked through it, my sight reaching to an old VW Bug that was parked next to the truck. My condition was an interesting one to say the least.

I listened to each one of their footsteps, to the mumbled whispers of their plan B. At least being in Limbo hadn't weakened my senses. I was able to hear their talk all the way up until the moment they disappeared into the brightly lit building. After they'd made their entrance, I tried to concentrate on the tennis players as they leaped around the court that bordered the right wall of the library, but it didn't last long as a distraction. My fingernails dug harshly into the old fabric that covered my seat, as if wearing a hole into it would make the time rush by faster. Thinking back, it seems like it did.

The moment I saw her, I knew this wasn't a trick. It was Chloe. The Chloe. My Chloe. I could detect her scent long before she neared the truck (I mean that in the least creepy sense). She looked just like she had when we'd left, except for the blonde, blue-streaked mane that had suddenly replaced the black shag I'd seen on her scalp last. Simon and Tori were talking on either side of her, but she kept her head down. She'd told Alaina that she was just fine, but now I saw that she was truly exhausted. She drug her feet all of the way through the parking lot, and the flashlight I'd seen before looked heavy as it hung in her fingers. There was a small tear speckled with red in the left knee of her black jeans. Mini sirens started going off in my head. Something must've happened. Something she hadn't told Alaina.

"Chloe…" I whispered as Simon opened the door for Chloe to climb in. I hadn't meant to say her name so softly, but the relief of having Chloe near me again had strained my voice somehow.

She gasped and looked up at me, her newly re-colored hair halfway hanging in front of her eyes. Her petrified stare only remained on me for a few moments, but it felt like years. She hadn't looked at me like that since the time at Lyle House when I threw her across the room…I still found time every single day to let the guilt drown my conscience for that stupid mistake. Still allowing that guilt to hurt me would probably seem pointless to everyone else, but in a way it made me feel better, like I was paying off a debt. Anyway, to make a long story short, I hated that look more than anything, and that was a lot considering all the enemies and obstacles we'd come across.

"No." she said blankly after the look of terror disappeared from her face and became replaced with red hot anguish that stuck out like flames in her robin egg blue eyes. Her voice was flat, but the wrinkles rippling the smooth skin across her forehead showed that her emotions were going haywire. "No. You're n-n-not d-dead. Liz s-said s-so…" the second she started stuttering, wet streams started caressing her flushed cheeks.

"Shh shhhh shhhh! I'm not, I'm not, it's ok! Don't cry, it's alright!" I said in a slightly cracking voice full of panic, one that I wasn't too familiar with. I was usually able to pull a whole I'm-completely-calm-in-bad-situations act, but today was not my day.

"B-but w-why are you…?" Chloe tried to say through frightened sobs.

"It's a long story." Simon interjected for me as Chloe climbed into the middle seat in the back. Tori entered on the other side, and I was surprised to see her buckle her seat belt and gently touch Chloe's shoulder. I'd noticed that they're been getting along, but I was still getting used to the whole idea of Tori's heart not being as cold as the inside of a walk-in freezer. Chloe just pulled her seatbelt on and sat, scratching numbly at her stomach. Thinking back I could tell that something was slightly amiss, but I was so happy that Chloe had returned to us in one piece and not in the form of ashes, I decided not to dwell on that fact.

For the time it took us to get out of the parking lot, Chloe stared in my direction, and I stared in hers. I smiled at her and was about to place my hand on her knee before second guessing myself (with how she'd reacted just now, I don't think she wanted to see just how ghostly I looked). I'd love to say that we were staring deeply into each other's eyes and we had a whole lovey-dovey moment, but I could tell she was looking through me rather than at me. Hot and prickley self-consciousness eased its way slowly down my body, and I turned back just as Casey pulled the truck out of the lot and back into the street. I knew that Chloe wasn't disgusted with me, and knowing that she'd already seen me on my hands and knees barfing in the dirt, I knew she probably never would be. But I still didn't want to flaunt my newly acquired oddity if I could help it.

"How exactly did you get out of that place?" Casey asked after a few minutes, unburdening us all of the question I was sure was on everyone's mind.

"Liz made a distraction and I just slipped out the back door and ran." Chloe answered simply. I glanced back at her, scanning down her body as if that would somehow explain why it had been so easy. She shifted in her seat and scratched her elbow. I could sense the nervous waves coming from her like an ocean tide. She was lying. I glanced over at Casey, whose lips had tightened into a dry line above his stubble-covered chin. I knew he'd already seen right through her words as if they were as translucent as my limbs.

"No way." I said after a few seconds. This time Chloe's pupils met mine. "There's more to it than that. Don't you dare tell us any bullshit. Not after all we've been through." I didn't like having to talk to her like this. Especially not so soon after getting her back in our custody. I knew my words had a strong impact, and as she looked guiltily down at her lap, I felt like maybe I should apologize for coming on so strong. I usually had a thing for being too overbearing, and I knew it.

"You're right." Chloe admitted, exhaling. "We don't have the luxury of being able to keep secrets anymore. It's just…I'm scared." With those words, my heart started feeling more like a wild bird attempting to escape the cage my ribs formed around it (or had when I'd been in my body). "As soon as Alaina transferred you to the hotel, I tried to sneak out of the morgue, but I kinda…ran into something…"

"Ran into what?" I asked hastily.

"I'm not completely sure…all I know is that I was knocked out for a while…and when I woke up, I was outside of the building. I just ran to the library from there." She said, and as she did, I could feel her anxiety lessen just a tiny bit.

"Maybe you just fainted from stress and Liz carried you to safety?" Tori suggested hopefully.

"I guess it's possible, but I couldn't find Liz anywhere once I came to, so probably not." Chloe said doubtfully. "I tried to summon her, but nothing happened."

"Aw, crap!" Casey exclaimed suddenly, distracting all of us. "Was Rae the name of that chick that was gonna set Chloe on…hurt her?" I nodded gravely. "Damn it, she's in our room."


	8. Chapter 8

"What the are you talking about?" I asked as he sped into an empty parking space in front of the hotel they'd been staying in, tires whining faintly.

"I got a vision. Rae is investigating our room." He said as he tried to unbuckle his seatbelt, his hands anxious and shaking.

"Are Alaina and the other kids still in there?" Tori said, her voice taking on a very high, almost whining note that matched the squeaking tires.

"Can't tell." Casey replied vaguely as he opened his door and leaped out. I bit my lip as Tori went straight after him. I reached for the door handle before looking through myself and remembering my condition. I took a deep breath and walked right through the door itself. I got a strange, dreamlike feeling and for a minute I didn't think I was in the real world anymore. The next second, I was on the other side of the door. I looked down at myself and saw little wisps of color twirling around me, reminding me of when you take a really hot shower when it's cold outside and steam rises from your skin.

"Come on, Casey, we can't go in there without a plan!" Tori whined from ahead of me. She was in front of Casey, desperate to block his way. He just went around her, acting like she wasn't even there. I ran—well, that's not quite right. I _willed_ myself in front of Casey, and I just appeared there.

"Did you get any other information from your vision?" I asked as he stopped his stride.  
"The fact that Alaina's somewhere in there with that maniac is the only piece of info I need." Casey replied stubbornly and walked right through me—literally. That same head-spinning feeling came again, but I didn't have time to harbor on it.

"You're being stupid!" I barked. I tried to grab him, but my hand went right through his forearm. I guess the whole 'you can touch things only if you want to' thing worked both ways. If I couldn't touch my friend because he didn't want me to, what did that mean about Rae and any other enemy we came across? So much for the whole indestructible weapon theory I'd had in my head. I groaned in disgust and frustration. There was no stopping Casey. Then I got an idea.

I closed my eyes and pictured the hotel room Alaina had brought me to. I opened them, only to see Tori glaring at me.

"Don't just stop, do something before he kills himself!" she shrieked and sprinted after Casey as he entered the lobby of the hotel. It hadn't worked, but, seeing nothing else to do, I decided to try again. This time, I rid my mind of any thoughts of Alaina, any people in general. I gazed at the puffy blankets, smelled the cleansing solution that coated the bedside tables, counted the particles of dust that rested on top of the stand that held the TV. This time when I opened my eyes I was standing on short carpeting. I soaked in everything around me, expecting to catch sight of someone. No one was there. Not a thing was out of order. Even my soulless body lay untouched on one of the beds. The room looked exactly the same as we left it, minus the people. The notion that they'd somehow got the message of Rae's arrival and gotten out relaxed me, but not for long.

In my sudden calmness, I breathed in. I immediately gagged from the overbearing coppery stench that I'd come to be so familiar with. I followed the horrible smell right through a door that connected the room with another. At first all I saw was the blood. A thin layer of crimson covered patches of the formerly white walls. It splattered a TV screen, a lampshade. I didn't have time to try and find out whose blood it was before snarling reached me.

I turned to see Rae, looking much less professional with her hair damp and sticky with blood and her lab coat charred. Her hands were lit with blue fire as she glared at a large wolf that paced in front of her. Wait—wolf?

"Lauren!" I yelled absentmindedly. The wolf looked at me, and flame instantly aimed for her furry rib cage. Luckily, she jumped out of the way. The fire licked a mattress and lit it up with a tearing sound. The wolf stumbled for only a second before gaining her bearings and leaping for Rae. "Stop!" I screamed and materialized in between the two. I couldn't let Lauren make the same mistake I had. Couldn't let her turn Rae. No matter how much we hated her, I didn't want Lauren to suffer through the guilt if we could avoid it. I grabbed my sister by her furry arms and pushed her backwards. She whimpered a little, but got up without much of a struggle. Rae swiped at me, her fiery limbs sending streams of my matter across the room.

"What-" Rae yelped. I turned in time to see the body of a glass lamp collide with the back of her head. Shards seemed to fly everywhere in slow motion, several pieces swooping through me. Water sprayed everywhere, mingled with Rae's blood. She fell to the ground, moaning. I gazed at the girl whose name I was pretty sure was Ezra. She was breathing hard from effort. Little droplets of water spun and swayed around her head, some splashing into the red-dyed tips of her hair otherwise blonde bob. I didn't have much time to wonder about them before Casey burst in, trailed closely by Tori.

"Alaina!" He called. His eyes scanned the room for any trace of his sister. "Where is she?" He asked Ezra, his voice calmer but eyes even more crazed looking than before. His hands gripped Ezra's arms and shook, but she just kept gazing into nothing. He let go of her with a relieved breath as the bathroom door inched open and Alaina's terrified face peeked from behind it. She walked out with one of the twin boys in front of her. Her hand covered his eyes, and I looked around to see what it was she was trying to shield him from. I winced as I realized exactly where the large quantities of blood had come from.

One of the boys—or what was left of him—was sprawled out on the floor right next to where Lauren and Rae had been fighting. A deep gash was set in his neck, lolling his head to one side that was thankfully facing away from us. I wasn't sure I could handle the young, dead eyes gazing at me. Black flesh on his torso told me Rae had kept herself busy. I stared numbly at the body until police sirens rang from below. We needed to get out immediately.

Agonized whining coupled with gagging pierced the air. Bones cracked. Hair retracted. Lauren was changing back. I went to her side, knowing there wasn't much I could do for her. "This is gonna hurt a bit." I remarked and slid two arms underneath her compulsing body. I stood, having to try hard to keep her in my arms despite her wriggling. She growled as if she was planning on attacking me, but she had no strength left to do anything other than twitch. "Ezra, come on!" I barked as Casey and the others sprinted from the destroyed room, myself not far behind them. Ezra gasped, and I heard several plops on the floor, followed by her rushed footsteps.

"Shit!" I couldn't help but yelling as I caught up with everyone, still struggling to keep Lauren in my arms. The police cars weren't here quite yet, but I could sense that they were less than half a mile away, and speeding.

"We can't use the truck!" Ezra called. Casey turned back just in time to catch a flying key chain. Ezra pointed to a mini van. Casey shook his head, but ran over and unlocked the van anyway. Chloe and Simon scrambled out of the truck. We all loaded in just as a police car entered the parking lot. Tori, who'd leaped into the passenger seat, hung herself halfway out of the window and thrust her arm out violently, and the police car skidded to the side, leaving us just enough room to get out. I'm not one for praise, but I felt like I should've been kissing her feet at that moment. We were out of the parking lot and on the road, and not a minute before the rest of the police vehicles flooded there. I expected them to follow us, but I guess they figured the biggest part of the problem was still in the hotel.

The stolen car was completely quiet except for the hushed sobbing of the boy whose name I still didn't know. I think we all felt the urge to comfort him, but nobody knew what to say. There wasn't really an easy way to explain to a kid that his brother was murdered by a demented half-demon. Lauren grew limp as her facial muscles shifted back into their normal places. Ezra handed me a child's blanket that had been sitting in her seat. I accepted it and covered Lauren. I wished there was a place to put her, but though the van had a lot of room, the nine people squeezed in made it pretty cramped.

"What happened?" Chloe broke in suddenly. No one said anything at first, but I finally responded.

"Rae." I said vaguely. There wasn't really much of a point in going over all the details, especially not when the kid was in so much pain.

"I think we better get the kid to Troy." Casey said. The boy had stopped crying, but he sniffed almost constantly.

"My name is Jose." He said. Casey nodded.

"Ok, Jose, do you have any idea why you were put in Triton house?" Casey inquired.

"Me and…my brother have…had anger issues." Jose responded after a short pause. Tears started to wet his cheek again. He gulped in air desperately. Alaina cuddled him from the seat behind us.

"Is that _really_ why?" Casey continued. The boy gave him a confused look before nodding and burying his face in Alaina's shoulder.

"I don't think he has any powers." Ezra said reassuringly.

"Even if he does, it wouldn't hurt to send him to Troy. That's what we should've done in the first place." I added regretfully. I saw Casey wince.

"Just…send him there Alaina." He said and glanced nervously up at the rearview mirror. Alaina whispered something to Jose shortly before the atmosphere in the van flashed. I looked back to see Alaina and Chloe were the only ones in the seats behind us. Jose had disappeared. Alaina was slumped against the window, color drained from her face.

"At least we're all going to be at Troy's in a few days." I said and turned back. No one said anything, and I knew something was off right then. I counted to thirty in my head, trying to keep myself from freaking out. "We are going to Troy's?" I said, the statement coming out as a question.

"Troy told us about another house run by members of the Edison Group in Arizona." Simon admitted. I gawked at everyone.

"No fucking way! We barely got out of that hotel! A kid got killed! A kid! And you guys want to go do it again? No way." I ranted.

"Look, we're not sure if that's what we're going to do right now. I think we all just need time to think and-"

"Hell yes we need time! A century!" I interrupted Casey "I'm a freakin' ghost creature, Chloe passed out earlier and had God knows what happen to her at the facility, and Lauren's not even conscious!"

"Calm down, Derek!" Casey said, slamming on the brakes and sending us all lurching forward in our seats. He'd been going ultra fast and had to halt at a stoplight. I clung to Lauren's limp body, and with some miracle she didn't wake up. "All that matters is what we're doing right now. We need to find some secluded area to sleep tonight. No hotels, no hostels, not even an abandoned lot. We're going to play it safe in the van. Happy?" I shook my head, but Casey didn't even look back to see my disapproval.

"I think we should send Lauren back too." I said. Simon leaned forward (he had to so he could catch sight of me since Ezra was sitting between us) and Tori turned back from the passenger seat.

"Why?" She asked.

"She's going to be weak when she wakes up. Really weak. If we're going to be playing it safe and or insane, we're going to have to live on low supplies. When she comes to, she's going to need food and a lot to sleep. Besides," I paused and looked down at her "If she stays with us, I get the feeling she's going to do something she'll regret."

"He's right." Chloe spoke up, her voice hoarse.

"You too." I said.

"What?"

"You weren't even supposed to be here in the first place. It was an accident. A risky one." I explained. I didn't want to say the words that were coming out of my mouth, didn't want her to go, but I knew where she was safest, and I wasn't going to be selfish and keep her in danger if I could help it.

"I'm going to be really tired after this, but I agree with Derek." Alaina said. "I already told Troy to get ready for a couple more people." Casey nodded. After a few seconds, Lauren was gone. It was strange to have her weight bearing down on my legs, and then have it taken away.

Before Alaina transported Chloe, I reached my hand back, and she took it.

"I love you." Chloe said, squeezing my hand tightly. I looked back and half-smiled. I wanted to tell her the same, but I felt like if I did I'd lose my nerve and try to convince everyone to let her stay. The red light came and went, and all my hand was clutching when it was gone was empty air. I prayed I'd see her again really soon.


	9. Chapter 9

I know this chapter isn't too horribly exciting, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!

"You really suck at making campfires." Ezra observed as she stood over Simon, who was crouched over a pile of sticks.

"Why don't _you_ make it then?" He challenged and stood up. Ezra bent down, and a small flame instantly sparked in her fist. She touched it to a leaf in between some of the wood and stood straight as it spread. She grinned in a way that was almost wicked at Simon before removing her thumb from her lighter. Soft light from the fire seemed to dance across her face in celebration.

"Cheater." Simon muttered and bent over with his hands outstretched to gain warmth.

"What are you eating?" I asked as I walked up to see Ezra slurping something from a plastic spoon.

"There were a few cups of peaches in the van," She said "there was a whole container under the seats filled with random snacks."

"You have no conscience." Simon said from the ground.

"They're just peaches, Prudence."

"You stole a family's car keys!"

"And if I hadn't, your pretty face would be in a jail cell right now." Ezra said "I have a conscience, I just don't whine about doing things that aren't nice, but have to be done." I rolled my eyes. It looked like we had a replacement Tori. It was amazing how fast these two could get back to their petty arguments so soon after the whole hotel mess. I wished I could act like that. I'd be willing to fight a little with someone if it meant it would get my mind off of that day.

I wanted Chloe. I wanted safety. I wanted to be in my body again. My body…

"Oh no," I exclaimed loudly, immediately distracting Simon and Ezra from their bickering. "My body is back on the bed in the hotel room!" This was bad. Really bad. What if they did an autopsy on me? What if I rotted in a morgue somewhere? What if Rae burned me? What if—

"Morbid thoughts much?" Casey called as he closed the door of the van and walked the five feet to my side beside the fire. "You're in the backseat. I don't know if it's her time off of the meds or what, but she's getting good." He beamed. It took me a minute to understand. I gaped at the exhausted-looking Alaina, who was draped in a red and white blanket as she leaned against the van.

"But…how? Wouldn't you have to communicate or something?" I asked. It seemed so easy I didn't want to believe it. Alaina shrugged.

"Maybe it's because I actually know you now, but all I had to do was think about you. It was surprisingly easy." She said, though her drooping eyelids defied the smile on her face. It must've taken a lot out of her to transport three people within a few hours. "I just wish I could've seen the paramedics' faces when they saw your body disappear."

"How many people do you think saw?" I inquired. I was still searching for a catch.

"Who cares? Like we've seen several times before, people make up logical explanations for things they don't find normal. They'll probably make up some story about you falling off a stretcher or something." Tori answered as she pulled her goosebump-covered arms into her sweater. I'd be lying if I said her reassurance comforted me, but I decided to let it go. There was nothing we could do about it now anyway.

"Looks like we hit the jackpot." Simon commented when Casey tossed him a mini bag of potato chips from the huge pile snuggled in his arms.

"Found these under a car seat in the trunk. The kids must've been bottomless pits." Casey also threw one in my direction, but it passed through and landed on the other side of me. No one even tried to contain their laughter, and I have to confess that I chuckled a little too. That was pretty much how the rest of the night went; laughter and jokes. It was like we were all trying desperately to forget about the hotel room and the boy we'd lost there. The guilt would be waiting patiently for all of us in the morning, and we were ok with shoving it away, if only for the moment. We sat and talked and the others ate up until the fire went cold. Then we all loaded back into the car to try and get some cramped, mildly uncomfortable sleep. Well, all of them except for me. I decided to take a walk.

I started with just walking the perimeter around the van. I'd urged Casey to keep driving about a half an hour after he'd wanted to stop. There were probably cameras all over that hotel, and chances were there were people looking for us. I wanted to get as deep into a secluded area as we could without getting lost.

After I did a couple of laps, I found myself trotting aimlessly. I didn't feel tired; I guess that was part of the whole Limbo thing, not feeling anything. I knew I was going to be in this condition for a few days at least. Apparently we needed a necromancer to get me back to normal, and we'd just sent ours a couple of states away. But, like I've said, it was pretty much the only thing we could do. The fact that she was safe at that moment trumped the fact that I was see-through.

I walked and sniffed. I know it sounds kind of weird, but observing what scents there were around the woods made all of my problems seem smaller. It was like I was getting high off of the scent of pine floating up from the needles that covered patches of earth. I eventually got so distracted by the smell of a coyote that I'd gotten that I nearly walked right into a lake. I stopped right at its edged and watched the half-moon dance in the surface ripples. I felt a sadness overwhelm me, and I realized I was grieving for the boy who'd died in the hotel. I hadn't even known him, but it suddenly felt like a hole had been bit into my stomach. Something about the moon always got me into these kinds of moods. I remembered the night that I'd thrown Chloe when she'd been doing laundry. I'd stared at the moon until deep blue sky began to turn gray. It was my own way of coping I guess. Forcing myself to stare at the pure whiteness of the moon helped me focus on something other than my own guilt.

"Hey, Invisa-boy." Someone said from the bushes behind me. I turned to see Ezra stride over next to me. Her gaze was also fixed on the wavy sphere in the water.

"What time is it?" I asked, wondering exactly how long I'd been walking around. I didn't feel tired. Then again, I didn't feel hungry, or cold, or hot, or anything really. Ezra shrugged.

"Late. Or early. Don't know, don't really care," she said "I just had to go to the bathroom when I heard you mumbling to yourself." I looked back out at the water and hid my slight chagrin. I guess it wasn't really that big of a stretch to think that I voiced my thoughts when I was alone, but I'd never heard myself talking to myself…which sounds like I'm going insane. "By the sound of it, I'm guessing you're feeling pretty guilty. Right?"

"You caught me." I muttered, not exactly pleased to have company.

"Feels bad, doesn't it?"

"Yep."

"It's really not that bad. I mean, you didn't actually hurt the kid."

"Not directly, no, but still…" My words felt as wispy as I now was.

"Well then stop it." She said, looking up at me. I wrinkled my forehead at her as she adjusted her pink jacket. I was expecting her to say more, but she just kept looking at me, waiting on me to say something.

"It's not that simple."

"Oh please. It's not like you killed the kid," she said "I bet you've never even done anything to be guilty for." I snorted at that.

"You have no idea."

"Try me." She challenged. I stared. I hadn't really come across anyone that didn't take my word when I told them I'd done something bad. Size thing I guess. Even so, she stared expectantly right back at me.

"There was some hick that pulled a knife on Simon once," I said solemnly "I slammed him against a brick wall. He was paralyzed."

"Big whoop." She said, and I couldn't hide my surprise. I hardly ever told anyone because I didn't like to talk about it, but I was pretty sure that most people wouldn't have reacted that way.

"Big whoop? That guy's never gonna walk again! He was hurt severely, and it was all because I couldn't keep my temper down." My voice was starting to rise.

"Okay, so you put some redneck thug that was prepared to slice up your brother in a wheel chair. Honestly, I don't see what you have to complain about. You're a hero." I chuckled bitterly at her use of the word 'hero'.

"Oh yeah? And what did you do that was so bad?" I said.

"Things." She answered simply. I opened my mouth to argue, but not before she stretched her arms behind her back and continued. "I just met you. And even though you did, you can't expect me to spill my guts." She brought her arms back to her sides and turned around.

"Wait," I said, "first tell me, what are you exactly?" I had my own theory about her species of supernatural (a water half-demon I assumed, given all of the droplets that had been spinning around her head. Since there were fire half-demons, it only made since that there would be other elements too), but I wanted to hear it straight from her. She ignored my question and kept walking back the way she came with a casual "See ya." I stared at her, puzzled and speechless, up until her pink-wrapped form blended in with the darkness. Ezra's strange little chat made me both curious and extremely suspicious. I wasn't threatened by her, but I wasn't planning on leaving my life in her hands any time soon either. I mean sure she was a victim of the Edison Group, but Rae had been too.

I shook my head. I didn't like the feeling of distrust. It made me feel unstable; as if I was on my own, despite the five others I was with. I knew in my heart I could rely on them, but ever since I'd first seen what Rae had turned into, my brain kept sending me dark, paranoid messages that warned me not to get too comfortable with anyone.

I eventually pushed these things out of my head, but not before the landscape around me had been carpeted in light gray. The sun was coming up. I'd never had a faster night in my life.

I took my time strolling back to the van. After a night of worries, I'd come to the conclusion that the worst was over. Sure I was still in Limbo or whatever, but at least we were in no immediate danger anymore. Someone would probably be searching for the van, but I'd pushed a car into a lake once, I could do it again. I snickered to myself, knowing how criminal that thought sounded in my head. My more relaxed state of mind suddenly crumbled when I heard hushed but alarmed voices from the van. I jogged to the clearing I'd left my friends to find Alaina shivering outside a wide-open passenger door, her arms crossed and forehead wrinkled with concern.

"What's going on?" I asked seriously. Alaina jumped, nearly knocking her glasses off of her face.

"You…you're moving." She said, obviously still half-dazed from sleep. I tilted my head and walked right past her and stuck my head in the van. The seats had been folded forward to allow room for my body to lay in the very back. Casey was standing over me warily, a stick clenched in his palm.

"Are you seriously trying to poke me with a stick?" I asked, causing Casey to shoot upward and hit his head on the roof of the car. He looked back at me.

"You were stone cold when Alaina brought you here last night. You're breathing now." Casey answered. His gaze moved back to my body. He looked scared. I looked over myself. I had to squint to see it, but sure enough, my chest was moving up and down rhythmically.

"And so you tried to poke me." I stated before getting into the van myself and walking through the seats to get a closer look at myself. My face was flushed and my eyelids twitched, as if my pupils were shooting around behind the flaps of skin. I actually looked pretty normal, which was a bad thing. I wasn't supposed to look normal. I was supposed to look like I had no soul, like I was nothing but an empty shell. "You're sure I was dead-looking last night?" I asked. I was pretty sure he was right, I just didn't know what else to make of my body's sudden reanimation. I would've assumed any problem with my disconnected body would have to do with decomposition (which I'm sure would've been more unpleasant). Casey nodded.

"We looked you over to make sure you weren't burned or scraped up or anythin'. You looked fine—besides the whole no-person-in-the-meat suit thing." Casey replied. I would've made a comment about him calling my body a 'meat suit', but I was suddenly too preoccupied with the pair of green eyes that were staring up at me from my very own face.


	10. Chapter 10

"Whoa-" I said and staggered backwards into the equally startled Casey. My body sat up and covered its face with its hands, rubbing groggily at my own cheeks. It was like watching the old video that my Dad had taken of my first day of high school when he'd insisted on recording every part of it he could, including me waking up.

"Don't just stand there, get it!" Casey shouted and walked through me. I joined him, too utterly shocked to do anything other than what I'd been told. Casey grabbed for my body's forearm, but it (I'm not really sure what else refer to my body as other than 'it') looked up at him and dodged his arm as if his calloused fingers were covered in acid. It stood and leaped passed Casey, right through me, before I even had a chance to try and restrain it. It bolted out the open door, and a scream from Alaina rang out. Casey and I sprinted after it, only to see it running for the trees. Alaina was flat on her butt on the ground, pale and wide-eyed. Simon was trying to help her up, but his eyes never unlocked on my bounding body. Casey and I did the only thing there was to do; we chased after it.

I would've just focused and made myself appear in front of my escaping body, but it was constantly making random turns, and I had no way of knowing where it would go next. That was alright though. I don't know if it was the urgency I was feeling, or the fact that I didn't have the ability to feel tired or out of breath anymore, but something made me run faster than I had ever gone before. And that's saying a lot considering my species. It only took about a minute for me to get so close to it that I could smell the sweat that mingled in its swaying hair. I couldn't see anything but the back of my own head. I was in hunt mode. A feeling that I'd only gotten when I changed surged through me. I was a wolf. I was chasing my prey. I was part of the ground beneath my heels, part of the trees around me. I know it sounds kind of corny, but I felt so at peace. So much so that I almost forgot about the newest confusion of the day. Almost.

My body turned its—or my—head around, giving me a full look into the fear-saturated irises. That was my moment. The moment a deer or any other kind of prey looks back, they're pretty much lost. I leaped for it—and found myself on the ground in two seconds.

I was glad my tongue had no feeling so my taste buds wouldn't have to endure the taste of the dirt that I was face down in. I'd fallen right through my body. I groaned and brought myself up on my knees. The euphoria I'd been feeling earlier was now completely gone, and the weight of the situation perched on my shoulders. I'd just let my body go. How the hell would I get back to normal—even my kind of normal—without a body?

"Looks like you finally caught a break." Casey panted as he bent over beside me. His hands were on his knees and there were several lines of sweat trailing down his nose, but a smile was on his face. The sound of splashing drew my attention away from Casey's tired breaths. I looked up and ahead in astonishment. My body was flopping around in the lake. I saw glimpses of its petrified face above the water, and then its splayed arms would cover it up. It would've been pretty funny if it hadn't been my body that appeared to be drowning. A slick palm patted my shoulder before Casey ran for the lake. He had on his jeans, but that didn't stop him from wading right in. He only had to swim about six feet before he caught one of my own thrashing limbs. As soon as he touched it, it went limp.

I got back on my feet and jogged to the rim of the lake. Simon stepped beside me, his face pale and wary. Casey managed to drag my slightly quivering body up to shore and turned it around so that it was on its back. He groaned with effort, but I was too busy watching myself hack up murky water to try and help him out.

"Apparently you don't know how to swim." Casey commented as he peeled off his soaking plaid over shirt. He twisted it, red dye from the little boxes decorating the fabric dripping out of it and onto the toes of his drenched and muddy socks. I did know how to swim, but I was too relieved to see my body incapacitated to mention it.

"So I guess we'll have to keep you locked up somewhere so you won't run away." Simon said shakily. He tried to push out a chuckle, but it came out more like something between a yawn and a cough. His blonde and usually spiky hair was now fluffily splayed across the top of his head, and I realized that neither of us had had a haircut in months. I was probably starting to look like a few of the stereotype heavy metal kids at my old school who'd apparently declared themselves allergic to hair scissors.

"What exactly is making my body come alive without me in it?" I asked, knowing that none of us had the slightest hint of an answer.

"Maybe it's just your subconscious or something." Simon guessed. "Just your brain working your limbs." The notion seemed ridiculous, but almost anything at this point would've sounded like something out of a corny Frankenstein movie.

"You're wrong." Someone said. Simon and Casey stared at me, but my gaze settled on my body as it hyperventilated at our feet. The word had come out strained and bizarre-sounding, but it was definitely my voice that had uttered it. "It's me." It said between strangled gulps of air "Liz."

"I'm just g-glad th-that she's alright." Chloe stuttered through the cell phone I had practically glued to my ear. It was about thirty minutes after Liz had almost drowned herself in my body, and though I now had the facts, everything seemed like a dream as I watched the landscape pass by outside the van window.

Liz couldn't explain the situation to us fast enough. We'd all asked so many questions that I was surprised she'd even gotten through her whole story. For Liz, everything had been turned upside down the moment she lost Chloe in the building I'd been kept in.

Chloe had sent Liz to scope out a hallway adjacent to the morgue, while Chloe stayed in the room. They'd set off the fire alarm and were pretty sure everyone had evacuated the building, but they wanted to check anyway. All had been clear, but when Liz got back to the morgue, the only things that were there were other ghosts. She'd questioned them about where Chloe had gone, but they had made it clear that they hadn't wanted anything to do with her.

After her little confrontation with the other spirits, she'd searched the building until she found Chloe unconscious in a closet. At that point, she was pretty confused, but she was smart about it and hadn't let it get the best of her. She'd gotten Chloe outside as fast as she could. Once outside though, she heard some people coming, and gone back in to throw a few things around and get them out of the way for the moment. When she'd gone back outside to check on Chloe, she was gone.

As for how she'd gotten here with us, Chloe had told her to come and check on us after Alaina transported her to Troy's. It had taken her hours to find us, and when she finally did, we'd all been asleep. And, being Liz, she'd decided to mess around. She had been trying to wake my body up when she'd accidentally 'slipped in' as she put it. When she'd finally came to in my body, she'd been freaked out and ran for it.

"What are you guys planning to do next?" Chloe inquired once the facts had settled in (which seemed to take a much shorter time frame than it had for any of us. Alaina was still trembling a little and Simon was as white as sour cream).

"Getting to you, of course." I said into the receiver as Casey ran over a pothole. We needed to get to Chloe as soon as possible. My mind had been trying to create every horrible scenario possible to fill in the mystery of how Chloe got put in a closet. I'd tried to push the thoughts away. All that mattered at the moment was that she was in the safest place possible. "We're all worried." She didn't say anything for a minute, and I could practically feel her blushing through the phone.

"How's Jose?" I asked. There was a pause, and I frowned, knowing that it wasn't a good sign.

"Depressed." Chloe said finally. I nodded to myself.

"And Lauren?"

"F-fine. She's been sleeping a bunch, but I think she's starting to get her strength back up." Chloe replied "You should've seen the look on Troy's face when I yelled to him to get me down from the roof! I think Alaina was getting kinda tired when she teleported me." Chloe laughed, and my mind's eye saw her sitting in a dining chair with a huge smile on her face. Her laugh was hearty for someone of her size. It echoed pleasantly in my ear. I missed the way her whole body seemed to tremble slightly whenever she laughed. It was like every fiber of her being was…happy.

"Derek…you still there?"

"Yeah, yeah." I responded and snapped back into the cramped van full of teenagers. Rather than Chloe's slender frame sitting next to me, Liz in my bulky body sat partially leaning on me. It's more than a little embarrassing to have someone else inhabiting your body, especially when that someone else felt the need to trace her fingers along my abdominal muscles and complain about the stubble that had spread over the bottom part of my face. I'd caught Liz more than once scowling as she sniffed my armpit. You could tell she wasn't used to being in a guy's body.

I shook my head as I looked over at her—me—dressed in one of Simon's shirts and a pair of Casey's jeans. Both clothing items were too small, and my biceps bulged under the graphic design of the t-shirt. Just what I'd always tried to avoid. My shaggy hair was pulled back in a scrunchie that Tori had so 'thoughtfully' offered. I hadn't exactly praised her for it.

"I miss you." Chloe said, making me smile despite the unpleasant view I had.

"You wouldn't if you saw what I looked like right now." I commented and switched my attention to the window.

"Oh please, how bad could it be?"

"I'm sure Tori will probably tell you when we get there." I said. Neither of us talked for a minute, but I was ok with that. I listened to the birds in the background and the classic rock that Troy was playing from his old radio. It was such a good feeling to know that Chloe was secure at that moment.

"Well, I better get going. I should help Troy with supper." Chloe said thoughtfully.

"Tell me one thing first," I said "are you sure you remember absolutely nothing from before you went unconscious?" I heard her click her tongue on the other line.

"I want to say something…something hit me in the head…" She said slowly. I grimaced. I don't know what answer I'd been hoping for, but that definitely wasn't it. "I don't know for sure though."

"We'll be there soon. I promise." I replied. "By the way, could you ask Troy to get some electrolytes or something? Changing takes a lot out of you, and I don't want Lauren to get too dehydrated."

"You're a good big brother." Chloe remarked.

"That goes for you too. Drink plenty of water. Stay in the house unless you absolutely have to. And if-"

"Ok, ok dad." Chloe said. I rolled my eyes, more at myself than at her. "I'm a big girl now. I'll be ok for the two days that it's going to take you guys to get here."

"It'll be less if I have anything to say about it." I added. "I love you." I said without thinking. I felt Ezra looking at me from one of the front seats, but I ignored it.

"I…I love you too." Chloe said, and I heard her suck in a little bit of air, and I knew that her heart was fluttering just a little bit. It still amazed me that I had that kind of impact on another person. A year ago I would've called whoever said I'd have an actual girlfriend a liar. And now…now I had something more than a girlfriend. She was a soul mate. I could feel it. I could feel it back when we'd first come across Liam and Ramon and they'd teased me about having a 'mate'. At least, I'd wished that they were right. Now I knew. I wasn't planning on telling her that much anytime soon. I didn't want to come off as needy…which I'd probably already failed to accomplish.

"Bye." I said. I waited for the soft click of the other line being dropped, and it didn't come for several seconds. Even after I heard the last breath she blew into the receiver, I held the phone to my ear, as if I was willing her voice to come back to me.

"Hey lover boy," Tori called form the other side of Liz "what would you think if we gave you a buzz cut or something?" I immediately brought the phone down to my lap and glared at Liz and Tori, who'd apparently been discussing rearranging my looks while I was busy on the phone.

"No way in hell." I said. "Why are you still in my body anyway? Can't you go fly off somewhere else?" Liz gave me an offended look with my own eyes.

"Someone's a little cranky." She said. I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"I don't remember giving you permission to enter my body. It's nothing against you, I'm just not really liking the little makeover you decided to give me." I said.

"Oh please. This look works for you. Right Casey?" Tori called up to the driver.

"It's sexy." Casey sputtered, obviously enjoying my annoyance. "Are you sure you've never worn skinny jeans before? It looks like you have the right kind of legs to work them." Liz and Tori hooted together as my face grew hot. Even Alaina had that crooked, I'm-trying-hard-to-be-polite-and-not-laugh smirk. I rolled down my window, yanked the scrunchie from my hair, and tossed it out onto the dusty road. Liz crossed my arms and pouted, which made me look even more ridiculous.

"I'm not asking anymore, I'm telling. Get out of my body." I growled. "Since you were able to get in it, maybe I can do the same."

"Troy said it works differently with people in Lingo than with ghosts," Liz pointed out "besides, I'm not even sure how to get out." I widened my eyes at her.

"Keep your panties on, she'll figure it out." Tori said with a wave of her hand. I sighed. There was no way I was going to get anywhere with two headstrong girls that were best friends. I'd thought that they'd been annoying before Liz had become a ghost, back at Lyle House, but now it was tripled. I gazed out the window, deciding to ignore the two. We were going to be at Troy's within about forty-eight hours. I was going to be with Chloe again, and soon. That was what was keeping my temper down. That was what was keeping me going. That was my sense of hope.


	11. Chapter 11

Hi!

I know I haven't updated in a few weeks, even though I've really wanted to! My laptop pretty much crashed. I couldn't even get it to turn on. I finally got a chance today to go by a computer store, where they told me that fixing my laptop would probably cost a lot more than getting a new one! So, long story short, I'm going to have another computer on the 30th. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to update anything by then, but the computer sales associate was able to retrieve the information that was in my computer. So, I was able to post this chapter using my mom's old (and I do mean old) desktop.

Anyway, I just thought I'd give you guys an explanation. Here's the next chapter!

PS I know this chapter isn't very long, only because the desktop computer was starting to freeze up. Next chapter should be a bit longer.

"Please tell me you're not going to eat another one." I grumbled at Liz as she finished a hamburger and reached for the greasy wrapper of another one.

"Why, have you been trying to watch your petite figure?" Liz teased before sighing and withdrawing her—or my—hand. "Sorry, I haven't tasted anything since…Lyle House. I guess I've been getting a bit ahead of myself." She sighed. I nodded. My own taste buds were begging me for a taste of something, even though I was sure I didn't have the ability to eat in the condition I was in. In fact, I was starting to get really pissed off about being in my Limbo form.

The two days after we started for Troy's had gone by in a painfully slow blur of overplayed music and dusty scenery. I'd be a liar if I said that I'd been completely cheerful throughout the ride. I knew that I wasn't the only one feeling cramped, anxious, and bored, but at least they were able to spend a few hours sleeping. I on the other hand was forced to endure consciousness for every single second. That meant I had a lot of time to stress about Chloe. How had she got in the closet? Was there a possibility that someone working at the morgue had actually wanted her to go free? Were they tracking her, planning their next move? Or was it something else entirely? All of these things and more circled my brain like a painfully morbid marry-go-round. Once I'd dismissed one theory, another more gruesome one would replace it.

"I'm sure everything's fine, Derek." Casey called from the driver's seat. "Geez, you're just as clingy as my ex was."

I glanced away from the landscape I'd been staring at but not really paying attention to. "Ever heard of privacy?" I called back, knowing that he'd been reading my mind. "And don't feed me that old 'supernatural hangover' excuse again." I leaned to look out the front windshield where pine trees swayed and white clouds shifted. It looked familiar, so much so that I felt overcome with emotion and didn't really care about Casey's nosiness anymore. We were close. Chloe was close.

"Thank God. I need a shower." Tori declared, running her fingers through her greased, shiny hair in disgust.

"Oh, I call the shower first!" Liz buzzed with more excitement than I'd ever heard from someone who was just talking about personal hygiene. I smirked. The lack of body odor was one of the very few good things that came out of not having an actual body.

"Gee, I don't know if you'll have time, Liz." Simon called from the seat in front of us (Tori, Liz, and I). "Chloe hasn't really gotten to visit with Derek in a long time, and she might not be able to tell the difference between you-him, and him-him."

"She'll be all over you in two seconds. I hope you like the kinky stuff." Casey chimed in. I held in a chuckle. It was amusing how Casey found a way to make a situation even more hysterical without even looking away from the windshield.

"No way." Liz said uneasily. She scrunched my nose. "You told her about the whole body-possession thing, didn't you?" she turned to me.

"I might have…" I said, pretending to be trying really hard to remember what I'd told Chloe. I knew that the little 'Liz is in my body' fact had been the first thing I'd blurted out to her, but, after what Liz put me through during the past 48 hours, I didn't really want to stop torturing Liz. Our ghost scanned me through squinted eyes.

"I'll probably keep my distance, just in case." She said finally and settled back into her seat. I looked out the window, satisfied with having gotten at least a little bit of payback.

"But anyway, we should probably stop and get some shampoo." Tori said, seeming to toss away the comical mix-up subject with a wave of her ringed hand.

"He doesn't have any shampoo?" Alaina asked in wonder. With the seriousness in her tone, you would've thought they were talking about whether or not Troy had killed someone.

"Well, he had some of this dandruff stuff, but we all know that's not nearly good enough." Tori explained. Alaina and Liz nodded. I rolled my eyes. Some girls…

"Troy outta be so happy to have so many girls in the house." Casey stated sarcastically, seeming to portray my own thoughts as all three of the girls started talking about their shower needs and what kind of frilly soap they hoped they could pick up. After only a few minutes (thankfully) of their excited chatter, the road started smoothing out, and the very edge of Troy's land became visible. I felt each nerve rejoice in a jittery dance, and I felt like my skin was literally crawling—but in a good way. I felt every crack and stone that ran under the van's tires as we rolled up the long driveway to the house. I checked every window, hoping that Chloe's face would dot one of them—any of them. Sadly, each pane of glass remained empty.

"Hey!" Someone shouted outside the van, making Casey slam on the breaks which caused every passenger to lurch forward. Tori thudded her forehead against the back of the rear passenger seat, and I saw Simon wince as he bit down hard on his own tongue. Thankfully (another on of the up sides to not having a body) I remained unhurt.

I craned my neck around the seats to see what the heck had caused our sudden halt. Troy was jogging over from the back porch, his trucker hat grasped in his oily hand.

"Geez, why'd you have to stop like that?" Tori whined at Casey while rubbing her temple.

"Sorry, I've been driving for two days. I guess the noise put me on edge." Casey apologized as he opened the driver door. That was when everyone seemed to forget about our painful stop and opened the nearest door. I could barely get out fast enough for Liz, who leaped out in my body, receiving a shocked look from Troy.

"So it's true," the older man said "we do have a possession on our hands." He gawked at Liz as he strode closer.

"Why yes Troy, we're all fine and dandy. We've only been cramped in an ugly minivan for two days." Tori mocked as she stretched her slender white arms behind her narrow back, twisting her elbows in opposite directions and interlocking her fingers. Troy chuckled a bit before returning his trucker hat to its rightful place on top of his messy gray hair. He and the others exchanged words, but I found myself half-walking, half-running to the ajar front door.

"Chloe?" I asked as I peeked inside at the dining table. Nothing had really changed since we'd left. A clock with twelve different birds ticked almost annoyingly to the left of the staircase. Dishes and envelopes cluttered the table. The smell of rust and leather occupied my sense of smell.

Lauren entered the room from the kitchen, a bowl of chili in her hands and a surprised look on her face. "Hi." She said in a hoarse voice I'd never heard from her.

"You ok?" I asked, not really wanting to get too distracted, but caring enough to wonder how my sister was doing.

"I'm fine. Just-" she groaned and quickly placed her lunch on the table so that she could grip her twitching shoulder "experiencing some after-effects of my first change." She reached to the edge of the table, picking up a medium sized tube of what looked like icy-hot. I chuckled, wishing that I had been able to get ahold of some of that after my first couple of changes.

"So…what have you guys been-?"

"You don't have to fain interest, Derek. Lauren interrupted, catching me off-guard. "I know that you feel like you need Chloe. She's been asleep on the couch all day."

"Well, someone's gotten a little bit more forward." I stated with a smile. I was glad that Lauren seemed to be becoming more outgoing, but, at the same time, I realized I'd probably miss the quiet, shy Lauren that I hadn't known for very long. As Lauren started to blush, I made my way towards the living room, staring at and almost wishing I could feel the fibers that were sliding under my feet. I paused at the corner that led to the living room and looked.

I could see her now. I saw her tangled blonde hair streaked across a red and black polka-dotted pillow. She was sprawled out across the leather couch, a little bit of drool running from her mouth and a snore drifting from her nose. From any one else's point of view, I was sure that she didn't really come off as sleeping beauty. But to me, I'd never seen anything prettier.

"Chloe." I whispered, moving gradually closer. I wasn't sure that I wanted to wake her up. She'd been through so much since…well, since I'd met her. Finding out that she was a necromancer, being attacked by zombies and mad scientists, and, eventually, falling in love with a werewolf. At least, I prayed what she felt was love. It sure was on my side.

"Derek…" she mumbled and laid her forearm across her closed eyes. I was right above her now, staring at her, wanting to kiss her but knowing that that would be way too gushy-lifetime-movie. I'd let her sleep.

"Now where is the shower?" Liz yelled from the front room, the noisy sound of my own voice making me wince. I almost wished that looks could kill as I glared. She just stuck my tongue out at me (something so utterly unlike me it seemed alien), and marched towards where Lauren was gesturing the closest restroom. I turned back to Chloe, who was staring at me from her resting place.

"Hi." I said. I knew that I should've had way more to say to her than that generic, two-letter word, but suddenly nothing was coming to mind. "Sorry," I said, rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly "Liz was just about to take a shower…I'm sure she would've come in to say hi, but we might've put the idea into her head that you would rape her if you got the chance." I could've slapped myself.

Chloe just kept staring, which made me feel even more like an idiot. Great.

"I don't really have a way with words, do I?" I muttered, knowing how dorky I was coming off as. I remembered Chloe's nerdy moments, but they seemed nothing compared to the stumbles that I had made. Chloe's blue eyes kept looking up at me. She didn't move. I crouched next to her. Her pupils followed my movement, but nothing else changed. I counted to sixty without her even blinking. Something was definitely wrong.


	12. Chapter 12

"Chloe?" I said, hoping that my stress-fried brain was just making me see things. Chloe's now clouded pupils twitched slightly, but that was the only response that I got. I tried to caress her cheek, but my hand went straight through her face. I yanked my arm backwards in shock, more from the realization that something was wrong than my translucentness. "Troy!" I yelled in panic. Twenty seconds and several rushed footsteps later, Troy was kneeling in front of Chloe.

"What happened?" He asked gruffly as he inspected her paralyzed-looking face. The hint of happiness that had graced his own expression when we'd first gotten there had melted completely. He held the index and middle finger of his right hand just below Chloe's jawline.

"I don't know. She was asleep, and then she opened her eyes and now…" My voice trailed off as I felt panic and regret surge through me. Why couldn't everything be ok for once? Was there ever going to be a time when we didn't have something to fight with or run from? I looked back at a terrified-looking Simon, who was standing worriedly at the edge of the living room carpet, helpless to do anything but stare.

"She has a pulse." Troy said "Maybe she-" Chloe suddenly sat straight up, nearly head-butting Troy's sunburned and wrinkled forehead. She gripped her throat and started desperately gulping air. Her eyes were watery and red as she gagged. Simon ran over, patting her back with a nervously sweaty palm. Her coughing fit lasted about thirty seconds, though it might as well have been thirty hours. It hurt to see her in pain like that and not be able to touch her…why couldn't I touch her? Did she really not want me to? Or was there something else going on?

"I'm ok, I'm ok." Chloe choked out once her violent coughing came to an end. "What just happened?" she asked hoarsely as she lowered the hand that she had wrapped around her neck. Simon looked up at me, as if I had a better answer than he did.

"We were hoping you'd tell us." I admitted. She wiped the pools that had formed around her puffy eyes before standing up shakily. Simon kept a firm grip on her hand.

"I don't know…I was sleeping and then…" Chloe's voice trailed off as she stood up and clutched her head with the hand that wasn't pressed into Simon's palm. I looked hard at Troy.

"Has anything else like this happened since she got back?" I interrogated. I knew that this had to have something to do with Chloe's blackout in the morgue.

"Nothing weird at all." Troy said with a shake of his head.

"I'm ok now." Chloe added, her voice only slightly more powerful than it had been before.

"You are right this second, but we have no idea how long that'll last." I pointed out. "Have you seen anything unusual on your body that wasn't here when you left the morgue?" Chloe looked at me as if I had suddenly grown a horn from my forehead.

"…no…" She said slowly. Her strange, almost astonished-looking stare still landed on me. A stinging pain struck me, and I realized that the look was similar to the way she'd looked at me back in the Lyle house laundry room only minutes before I'd…I'd…

I glanced at the beige fibers underneath my toes. I couldn't look at her.

"Everything okay in here?" Casey asked as he made his extremely late entrance.

"You really don't have good timing." Troy said as he rose from the ball of his heels and back into a standing position.

"Sorry, I was talking to Tori and-" Casey's eyes grazed Chloe, and he paused for a second. "What happened?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out." Simon said as he hesitantly pulled his hand away from Chloe's. I looked back at her, grateful that her agonizing stare had dissolved. The only evidence of her temporarily paralyzed state was the vibrant pink that blanketed her cheeks.

"For the last time guys, I'm fine." Chloe said as she waved at Simon, as if that would melt any idea in his head that he should try and support her any more than he already had. "Just a little hungry." We were all silent, and I'm pretty sure we were all thinking the same thing; what the hell?

"There's some left over spaghetti in the fridge." Troy offered and adjusted his belt buckle. Chloe practically marched past us and across the dining room. All three of us still remained exchanged fleeting, confused glances before following her lead. What else was there to do?

I watched with a mixture of curiosity and uneasiness as Chloe downed two and a half plates of Troy's apparently world famous spaghetti. I'd never seen her eat like that-or should I say consume? That sounds closer to the way that she shoveled the piles of noodles and red sauce into her mouth. Even when we'd been on the road for days and had hardly anything more than greasy slim jims and stale donuts to munch on she hadn't eaten the way she was at that moment. I glanced around the table, seeing that I wasn't the only one who had noticed.

Tori was leaning forward, as if what she was seeing was cause for excitement. Simon on the other hand was leaning back, like he expected the closer he got to Chloe and her meal, the closer he came to being attacked. Troy sat staring with unreadable stillness on his face. Alaina and Lauren faked small talk as they clicked their forks on their half-filled salad plates. I knew that our very own big-mouthed Casey would've blurted something if he'd been there, but the sound of the shower head in the other room told me that he was taking his sweet time cleaning up.

"I'm tired." Chloe said as she stood up noisily, causing Troy to jump away from whatever he had been thinking. "I think I'm going to head to bed."

"But…you were just sleeping." I said "and we almost didn't get you to wake up all of the way."

"I'm fine." She insisted, a little more aggressively than she had earlier. "Besides, with the freakish way you guys have been looking at me since I got up, I think you would've found anything that was wrong with me. Now you can just leave me alone." It was time for all of us to look up at her in shock. This didn't sound like Chloe at all. Sure the stubborn tone matched, but she'd never be so insistent on telling us not to worry about her. Especially when there were so many reasons to worry about her.

"We just want to make sure that nothing happened back-"

"Oh, like you'd do anything even if there was something wrong?" Chloe interrupted me "You like to act all big and tough, but when it comes to really taking care of problems, you suck." I was jilted back slightly by her comment. "Sure you try and blah blah blah, but, in the long run, the only thing you're good for is fighting things. You can't heal anything with strength." Chloe's arms were crossed now as she glared at me. I'm pretty sure a million comebacks popped into my head, but I couldn't pay attention to any of them. Shock was the only thing that was swirling around in my consciousness. "I'm going to bed." She said, and, with that, she practically flew up the staircase to the right of the dining table. Everyone was silent for the longest time before Troy cleared his throat.

"There is definitely something wrong with that girl." He said and got up, picking up Chloe's left over plate as he made his way towards the kitchen.

"We'll find out what it is, Derek." Tori comforted. Yes, I said she comforted. I would've voiced my astonishment at her if the aftershock of what had just happened hadn't started soaking into my skin. I'd been to bewildered to compute anything that she had said as an insult until that moment. All that spun in my mind was the fact that Chloe wasn't normal. That piece of information scared me more than anything I'd battled since the day we'd left Lyle house.

"Did you…see something when you saw Chloe on the couch earlier?" I asked as I took a seat opposite Casey, nearest the staircase. Casey tilted his head to one side before responding.

"I thought I did at first." He said over his own squeaky wooden dining chair. "There was a flash of something…unfamiliar. Then—poof—it was gone." He illustrated the abrupt disappearance of the 'flashes' with splayed hands. I sighed. It was now about ten o'clock at night, approximately three hours after the weird talk with Chloe. Now, she was fast asleep, along with everyone besides Casey and me. It was as if nothing had happened. It almost felt like I was the only one who cared about what was wrong with Chloe. It made me angry, but I knew in my heart that they all cared, they were just smart enough not to obsess over something that they couldn't control. Unlike me.

"Have you ever had anything like that happen before?" I asked. Casey bit his lip.

"It happened so fast…it only lasted a second. It's possible that it's happened before and I just haven't seen it. Hell, it's possible I was just seeing things. I mean, I have been driving for two days straight." He explained as he tossed around his freshly washed locks with soap-smelling fingers. I clenched my fists. I didn't want to hear empty theories.

"Can you read people while they're asleep?" I asked. Casey looked taken aback.

"I've never tried…dreams are more in Alaina's department than mine." Casey answered and rubbed his throat. I could tell by the hoarseness in his voice that it was sore. We were all starting to feel the effects of fighting and escaping all of the time.

"You could try though?" I said. The question came out more like a command.

"I could. I can't guarantee anything is going to happen though." Casey breathed. "I might need to go and dream myself soon, Derek." I glared at him. "You're the only one here right now that can run on absolutely no sleep. You're the lucky one. I'm trying, but you need to remember that I am human." Casey said.

'I am human.' Why did that phrase sting so much? I wondered if I was jealous of the meaning behind it. Casey was a weirdo, a freak; at least in most peoples' dictionary. He was a supernatural, one that had been caught up in too much to ever really be considered normal again. Despite all of that though, he was still a human. That was more than I would ever be able to say. I could fake it, but my bones were always waiting patiently for their next appointment to shift underneath my skin.

"You get some rest." I said as I tried to hide the disgust I was feeling. I didn't know if I was feeling it because of Casey's inability to help me, because of Chloe's sudden coldness towards me, or because of my own twisted thoughts and feelings.

"I'll see what I can do tomorrow." Casey said before scooted his chair out and swiftly trotting up the stairs to an awaiting bed. I was left alone at Troy's table, the ceiling lamp flickering above me as it swayed with every cycle it made. I looked up and tried to imagine what the air it was spreading would feel like on my skin. I needed my body back. Hopefully before I went crazy. Not that I wasn't pretty nutty already.

"I hope you don't plan on getting this back anytime soon." Someone growled from behind me.


	13. Chapter 13

I wordlessly jumped up. I waited to hear the wooden chair clatter loudly to the hardwood flooring beneath it, but instead silence filled the space. At least before that swooping sound you get when you start swinging something really heavy. My torso felt strange for a second, and I realized that whoever had brought me into defensive mode with their menacing words had just thrown the chair at me—and thankfully—through me.

"Damn it!" they yelled. I spun to see exactly who I'd thought had just cursed at me; myself.

"What—Liz!" I yelled as my body threw useless punches at me. Though the blonde ghost's name was the first thing that popped into my head, I knew this couldn't be Liz—she already knew that anything malicious would just go right through me. Plus, there wouldn't be something so…different about my eyes. I have no idea how I was able to notice such a tiny detail in such a dimly-lit and shock-filled room, but the pupils that I was used to seeing every time I came to a mirror weren't their usual shape. They were like two velvety, purple pools with vertical, emerald almonds at their centers.

"Why won't you die?" my body growled. As I watched my body's own temper grow, objects flung randomly around the room. A pillow from the living room glided across the dining table while books from a nearby shelf flew into the kitchen behind me. Cabinets flung open from every which way. The ceiling fan that had caught my attention only seconds before now spun in reverse and so hard that each cycle made me cringe with the thought of it plummeting down from its perch. "Why, why why!" my body screeched. It was like there was some bizarre, telekinetic tantrum going on. I just stood my ground. There was nothing that my body could do to hurt me. There was no point in cringing or running away. There was no point in fighting back either. All I could do was try to figure out what the hell was going on.

I'm not completely sure exactly how long the violent period lasted. I couldn't hear anything besides my own rants and the sound of solid things slicing air. All I know is that when the fan above finally started to slow down and cabinet doors stopped slamming, there were tears and droplets of sweat lacing my dark, drooping hair. My body suddenly ran. I twirled and watched as it sprinted into the kitchen. I caught a glimpse of Trent, Casey, Simon, Tori, Lauren, and Alaina standing silently on the staircase to my right, but I didn't give them much thought. I was too distracted by the thick butcher knife that my own fingers were groping.

"Don't come any closer." My body whined, causing me to halt midstep. What the hell was in my body, and what did it think it was doing? If it couldn't even land a punch on me in this form, than how could it stab me? Footsteps coupled with the familiar sound of Simon's rapid breathing swept next to me. Had the sound of my brother in panic mode really become a familiar thing to me? We so needed a vacation.

"You're not Liz." I said. My body glared at me. At least, I think it did. It was hard to tell with those seemingly emotionless purple and green eyes that had taken place of mine.

"Gee, I knew you were a genius, but I would've never expected you to figure that out." My body spat sarcastically and crossed its arms over my chest. There was suddenly a bitter laugh in my voice. One in contrast to the anxious whine that had filled my throat during the whole dining room episode.

"I'm a-" I thought out loud. Whatever was inhabiting me was claiming to know something about me. Not to be big-headed, but I always had been pretty good with math and chemistry. But how would this thing know that?

"I said not another step!" The thing inside me shouted at someone past me. A sudden gasp from behind me told me that one of the girls had tried to inch their way up to where Simon and I were. Within seconds, the knife plunged—into the left bicep of my actual flesh.

I expected to hear a howl or grunt, or at least some sound that indicated pain. Hell, I just watched it and I felt like screaming. However, not even the slightest grimace took position on my face and the thing's green pupils never left Simon and me. I heard the blood droplets splatter against my body's bare chest. Streams flooded over the blade and down my thick arm before dripping lazily to the floor. I thought I saw the very tip of the knife poking out of the other side of my arm near my elbow.

There was a smacking noise behind me, the sound of someone clapping a shaking hand over their mouth, and I assumed that the slight gore had just shocked my friends even more than the dining room showdown had.

After a practical century of doing nothing but watching the crimson drain out of my flesh, the thing chuckled. It pulled the knife out—not in one quick motion, but in several, agonizingly short yanks—and held it vertically. It watched as the redness swirled down the knife handle, down the hand that held it. There was something about those eyes that was more than strange—it was hungry. That was when it did something that made my stomach churn.

It licked the blade.

I cringed. Not so much at the creepiness of it, but at the actual depiction. I'd had dreams similar to this. Not so much the gross licking-my-own-blood thing, but the consumption of blood. Other peoples' blood. The blood of strangers. The blood of people I cared about. The notion that someday my temper was going to make the wolf inside me do something that I'd regret. Something that I'd be willing to kill myself in order to prevent.

"That's better." The voice was now deep and rich. There was no mistaking that it was mine, but it wasn't a tone I'd used often. It was a tone of deep, utter ecstasy.

"What the fuck are you?" Casey called from somewhere behind me. The shaking in his voice told me that he wasn't exactly the calmest of the bunch.

"Don't you dare cuss at me, Green." The thing said as it's pleasured expression suddenly morphed into an ugly sneer. "The last time I saw you, you weren't exactly in the best shape either."

"The last time I saw you…" I repeated, trying to make sense of the words. This was definitely someone who knew us. But who? Could it be some ghost that had been hanging around one of the facilities? A demon like Chloe had told us about? It wasn't someone we knew, was it?

And then I knew. The thought didn't just hit me as a random notion. I was sure of it the second my brain was able to make sense of it.

"Mrs. Enright." I blurted. The thing's attention left Casey and was dragged back to me. It didn't say anything for the longest time. The silence alone reassured me that I was right. I almost felt happy about my discovery of our intruder's identity. Except, I didn't have enough time to feel the satisfaction before the knife dug deep into my body's left shoulder blade.

"Stop!" Simon yelled from beside me. Instead of listening however, Tori's mom withdrew the knife and sliced open my body's wrist. I suddenly knew why she was here. She wanted to kill me. To make my body unusable. To keep me stuck in my translucent form. I felt so utterly sick. I wanted to make time stop and sit down to think of what to do. I was helpless. I couldn't touch her. Even if I could get over there in time, there was nothing I could do to stop her from butchering every last bit of my flesh.

My other wrist became slashed. My calf was soon punctured. It was obvious that Mrs. Enright wasn't trying to kill me slowly. Maybe she didn't know that I couldn't feel the pain. She did seem pretty ignorant about my soul and the body that she was in. Then again, maybe she knew that just watching myself be slashed up like that was like watching a gory horror movie.

"Goodbye." Mrs. Enright said finally as she position the knife at the side of my own throat. I felt a sudden flurry of emotion. For some reason, I remembered the time right after Chloe and I had encountered Lyle and Ramon. How she'd accused me of wanting to die. Wanting to let them take me and kill me. Though I hadn't admitted it, she'd been right. I'd been ready to commit suicide then. The only thing that had kept me from just letting the two take me was the knowledge that Chloe wouldn't have been able to get out of that situation without me.

Back then I'd been prepared to die at the moment that Chloe no longer needed me. Now I saw how terribly ignorant I'd been. Chloe did need me. So did Simon. And Tori. And Casey. And all of the other supernaturals living in facilities just like Lyle house. I wasn't prepared to die.

I knew disposing of my body wouldn't kill me, but being like I was at that moment sure wasn't living.

I closed my eyes. I definitely wasn't ready to not be allowed back into my life, but that didn't matter. I didn't have any control over the situation. The best thing to do was to just stand there and let whatever was going to happen just—

The pitter-patter of small feet made my eyelids shoot open. I reached outward to try and catch Chloe by her thin, goosebumped arm, but she easily slid through my grasp. The sharp object in Mrs. Enright's hand was no longer turned towards my body. It was pointing straight at Chloe's tiny, heaving chest.


	14. Chapter 14

Everything slowed down at that point. It was like someone had pressed the slow-mo button on my entire world. No sound reached me. I lurched after Chloe, though it felt like my speed couldn't match that of an eighty-year-old on a stroll to the park. I closed my eyes. I just wanted all of this to be over. Or, more accurately, I wished that it had never begun.

I wished that I'd never heard of Lyle house. I wished that I'd never figured out the Edison Group's sick plot…I even wished I'd never met Chloe. Maybe that way she wouldn't be here. She wouldn't be sprinting towards a maniac with a knife. She wouldn't have had to go through all of this crap that no person our age should have to endure. I wished that she had gone on living in the real world. The world where there was no such thing as ghosts and demons. No witches or wizards. No werewolves. A world where I didn't exist. A safe world.

I opened my eyes to see Diane's knife dive through the air and right into the chest of—

Ezra.

My ears popped, welcoming in all of the noise that my brain had somehow muted. It flooded into my ears like a strong wave on an empty beach. Chloe's gasp was soon followed by the slapping sound of her hands covering her mouth. Ezra looked straight down, crossing her eyes as she tried to focus on the object that had planted itself into her blank tank top and the flesh underneath it. Diane Enright's hand was still clutched to the handle.

I expected Ezra's head to bob to the side, waited to see her eyes to roll up towards her forehead before she crumpled to the floor. However, that didn't seem like her plan.

Ezra lifted her head to where her small nose was angled straight at Mrs. Enright. A smile glazed her face. Not a normal smile, but one of those grins that someone puts on when they know something that you don't. She tilted her head as the sound of frying eggs cut through the air. I squinted, not believing what I was seeing. Was there smoke rising from my hand?

Mrs. Enright shrieked and tried to jerk my hand away from the blade that was still stuck in Ezra's chest. Apparently this knife was different than the butcher knife that she'd been wielding. This one actually caused her pain. Finally, with a yank and a sickening peeling sound, Mrs. Enright unstuck my hand from the blade. She clutched it, and I saw the redness that had started to coat my palm.

Ezra sighed as if she was unamused. Chloe glanced at me before running to me. I wrapped my arms around her, knowing that, although I couldn't feel her skin against mine, Chloe needed me to embrace her.

A sound similar to lightening but much quieter sounded from beside me. I didn't have to look over to know that Simon was readying a spell. A flash of light pierced the air, and for a moment all lighting went out, leaving all of us in darkness. An inhuman howl coupled with a crash echoed through the house before the lights turned back on. When they did, my body was halfway in the room, halfway stuck in the wall on the other side of the room. Simon was getting pretty good with his knock back spell.

Ezra, seeming to no longer notice the weapon embedded so close to her heart, reached into the back pocket of her jeans. I assumed what she brought out was a dagger, though it was only about as long as brand new pencil, handle and all. She held it out in front of her, its tip pointing towards the ceiling. It started dripping. It was like it was bleeding. Just tiny droplets, but it was enough to cover the whole surface area of the blade. Everyone and everything was quiet. Even Mrs. Enright kept her lips sealed and eyes on the blonde-haired girl.

"I hope the next world you find yourself will be better than this one." Ezra said emotionlessly. She stomped towards Tori's mom. Diane's lip twitched with something between contempt and pure fear, but otherwise she didn't move. Ezra pulled the blade back before slashing it sideways, leaving a perfectly straight line across the center of the familiar forehead that Mrs. Enright was inhabiting. The tensed limbs went limp, and the eyes closed. Ezra turned to all of us. Droplets still poured down from her dagger, washing away the fresh blood that coated its tip. "Dear Lord she was annoying. Ever since she was inside of Chloe I'd wanted to do that." Ezra exclaimed before realizing the nature of the stares that were locked on her. "I'm guessing it's time to explain a few things."

"Damn right!" Troy cried from somewhere behind me. I sensed more than saw as everyone who had been at the staircase joined Simon, Chloe I. Ezra let out another one of her slightly bored sighs and re-pocketed her small, but obviously lethal weapon.

"No need to be snippy," she said "I just got rid of one nasty demon bitch for you guys. You should be showering me with flowers or whatever it is people do when they're congratulating one another."

"That 'nasty demon bitch' was my mom." Tori interjected. Her voice was a whisper, but everyone in the house could easily hear it. She walked past me, and straight towards my unmoving body. She stood in front of it, staring down at it as if she expected her mother to re-enter it at any second.

"Oh," Ezra said "sorry." Her apology held absolutely no sincerity, especially since she seemed to be too busy sliding the knife out of her skin to pay too much attention to what anyone was saying.

"Where is she now?" Tori asked without the slightest shift from where she was standing. Her black locks were wet with perspiration, and maybe even tears. I didn't know if she was the crying type, but if there was a time to shed tears, now seemed to be it.

"Beyond. Wherever that is." Ezra said as she tossed away the butcher knife and crossed her arms. Her shirt was torn, but there was no blood or gash where she'd been impaled.

"You…you sent her 'beyond'? Do you mean heaven?" Simon asked shakily. Ezra stared at him.

"Just because I happen to be able to exercise spirits doesn't mean that I'm the expert on exactly where they end up after that."

"So…you're some kind of necromancer?" I inferred. Ezra tilted her head back and laughed.

"Necromancer? Necromancers are nothing more than communicators. Except for those who decide to mess up with the balance and bring back ghosts. That just makes a big mess for me to clear up." Ezra scoffed. Chloe wrinkled her eyebrows, but stayed quiet.

"Then you're something more powerful than that." Casey drawled.

"Much, much more." Ezra said in a bragging tone. "I may not have the halo thing going on, but, besides that, I pretty much fit the stereotype." Halo thing?

"You're an…angel?" I said, not sure if what I was saying was even plausible. How many more weird, supposedly mythological things were there?

"And you win today's round. Tune in next time for another episode of 'Guess That Creature'." Ezra said as she pointed one slender finger at me. A flapping sound erupted in the room, and I looked around, expecting to see that some bird had made its way through the chimney or something. I almost cried out from sheer shock as two long, ruby-red rows of feathers waved at me from behind Ezra's back. The pair looked like they wouldn't be able to fit through a doorway, let alone remain hidden somewhere on the four-foot-something girls standing in front of us. Chloe turned completely around, and I dropped my arm from her shoulder.

"I-if you're an angel," Chloe sputtered "shouldn't you be a b-bit of an exp-p-pert on the whole 'beyond' thing?"

"My job is to follow orders, not ask questions." Ezra moved her left wing to where it was halfway in front of her so that she could pluck what looked like a fuzz ball from her feathers. The body language showed that grooming her feathers was more important than answering our questions. However, ever since I'd met her, I'd gotten the feeling that she'd always had something better to do, something more important going on that we weren't a part of. Now, I understood that she probably had a million things better to do. I gulped, finding it hard to believe that a higher being like her would tolerate us.

"Orders?" Simon choked out "you mean…"

"Honestly, I'm not sure exactly where they come from. They could be from The Big Guy, but I've been locked in this gig for a long time, and I'm still as clueless as I was when I died and became one of these things. I'll probably never know," Ezra interrupted "I just kinda get mental messages when it's time for my next job." I took note that apparently Ezra had died, therefore must've been human. I wasn't going to let any minor detail slip by.

"Why would an angel need to come down here and exercise a spirit?" Tori said, finally turning away from my slashed body. I had been too busy interrogating Ezra to notice that Tori had crouched down, and was now sitting on her heels in front of my body.

"Because apparently you guys are doing some pretty important stuff, and I couldn't let a ghost with a little temper tantrum mess up the whole thing." Ezra said.

"Important?" I echoed. Ezra shrugged. "You're telling me that us rescuing supernatural experiments is a blessed mission?"

"All I know is that Earth needs Mr. Derek Souza and friends to keep doing what they're doing."

"If only we were better at it." I chuckled. I wasn't sure what I found more funny, the fact that we sucked at retrieving people, or that angels, heavenly creatures, actually cared about what we were doing. The second notion seemed ridiculous, but, here we were, standing right in front of a 'soldier of heaven'.

"I knew it." A soft voice said. Everyone turned to look at a pink-cheeked Alaina. "I told you Casey, I told you angels were real." Casey smiled despite himself.

"Yeah yeah, we're awesome." Ezra said with a cough, distracting all of us from gawking at Casey's younger sibling. "Now, down to business." With that, she strolled towards me, one index finger straight out. I was about to ask her what the hell she thought she was doing when her nail grazed my chin, and everything went white.


	15. Chapter 15

Feathers. So many feathers. All so red—why did I dislike that color again? Was it because it was the same color as the blood that I'd seen drench almost every one of my friends? Or was it just my specific opinion? I couldn't remember. I reached out, trying to feel the feathers, but they fluttered just out of my grasp.

Then I was falling. I squeezed my eyes shut and prepared myself for impact, but nothing ever came. No hard ground, no jolt as my bones cracked from the landing, no nothing. I risked opening my eyes. I was sitting on a white tile floor, my legs bent beneath me. A sickening sound that I had come to be familiar with crackled through the air. The sound of bones rearranging, of hair prickling out of skin, of desperate, pleading moans. I looked up.

Mrs. Enright.

"What did you do to mee—ea!" She screeched as she convulsed on the floor. Her griping mouth had started to elongate, cutting off her words. The fabric of her paisley blouse tore as her shoulder broadened. I wanted to rush to her side, to apologize, to do whatever I could to help her through what I knew felt worse than spikes being driven through your bones. I knew that I didn't really like this lady, but I wouldn't wish what I was seeing on anybody. I wanted to be just as comforting as Chloe had been to me. Chloe…

"Hand me some more disinfectant. This one is pretty bad." A voice called. The impatient tone seemed to dim the environment around me, seemed to mute the painful squawking of the woman that I had changed.

"Ow…" I whimpered when I opened my eyes. I squinted and shifted in the agonizingly bright light. I was hurting so much. Wait…hurting?

I jolted up straight, feeling the top of my head connect with something that must've been above me. "Sorry!" I said as a yelp escaped from Ezra. She clutched her nose and threw back her head. A sliver of crimson had already started crawling down her lip. I suddenly became wordless. What exactly do you say when you accidentally head-butt an angel?

"It's all good." She replied nasally. She let go of her nose and flared her nostrils as she took a tissue from Chloe.

"Chloe!" I coughed. I brought my fingers upwards, trying to trace her jawbone. However, the sting in my bicep brought my arm back down on the kitchen table. "Ow." I said with a grin. I couldn't help but smile like some masochist. The pain felt so—so good. I know that sounds insane, but after a few days of not even being able to feel the breeze on my back, I welcomed the ache like it was a long-lost relative.

"I—I'm so sorry," Chloe whined as she leaned over me and pinned her blonde side-bangs to her forehead so they wouldn't dangle in my face "I didn't mean a thing I said earlier, it was Diane." I studied her blue eyes and the line of yellow that squiggled around her iris.

"Yeah, I know." I whispered and leaned forward just enough to kiss her unprepared lips. My spine screamed, but the feeling of my heart smiling was enough to distract me from it. Chloe shivered, but didn't pull away. Neither of us pulled away for what felt like a long time. When someone cleared there throat, I finally withdrew. My lips tingled with pleasure—my own lips! I had my own lips back…

"Jeez, is it mating season for werewolves, or is he always this horny?" Ezra retorted bluntly with crossed arms and an entertained smirk. If it was any other day, I probably would've fired off some defense with burning cheeks, but today, I just laughed. I had to; an angel making a dirty comment was something that you just couldn't help but giggle at.

"So, you're really back." Casey said and clapped a strong hand on my shoulder. I winced. "C'mon, I heard you thinking about how much you love the pain, you sadistic bastard." He teased before releasing me.

"You might like it now, but it's going to get pretty nasty if we let these get infected." Chloe pointed out as she gestured to the deep gashes in my torso. The strange image of watching myself cut up the flesh of my chest spun in my head. Alaina carried couple of wash clothes, tossing the damp fabric onto the wooden table, right in front of me. I tried to sit up in the wooden dining chair I was sitting in, but Chloe rested a hand on my temple. I couldn't help but relax at that.

I scanned the room, seeing that in the time that I had been transferring back to my body, a few bits of the destruction had been put back into place. Troy was busily snapping off the legs of a chair; one that must've gotten the back torn off when it flew across the room. It was firewood now.

"Why is it that you're always the one fixing me up? Why aren't I ever helping you?" I asked Chloe as she concentrated on rubbing alcohol into a shallow cut on my shoulder. It was like I was a puzzle, and she was always the one to put me back together. She was standing at my side, and I couldn't see her face, but I could feel her smile as easily as I would've felt it if she'd been kissing me.

"You did once, remember," She said "at the café after getting away from Liam and Ramon."

"Yeah…" I murmured as sleep started to drag me back into the land of dreams. "I remember…"

When I first came to, I didn't open my eyes. I just inhaled, enjoying the fact that the irony stench of blood was absent for once. I let the smells of old books and generous amounts of lemon pledge remind me that I was in an actual house instead of in a van or a bus. I sniffed more, and yanked my head backwards when something caressed my nose. My eyes shot open as I realized whatever had tickled my nose smelled like the cheap ocean breeze conditioner that Troy had stocked up on when we'd first arrived in Texas.

I'd thought I'd been happy when Ezra had put me back in my body, but it was nothing compared to the joy that I felt when I saw Chloe nestled beside me. I swept her hair away from her face (and out of mine), holding it between my fingers for a second to admire the new blue streaks. Her hair was plagued with split ends and frizz had begun to climb up the strands. I let it fall behind her head.

"God, I'm creepy." I said and shook my head. I was overcome with the desire to scoot my arm underneath her, to let my shoulder become her pillow.

"Give me that back! Were you going through my things?" Ezra's voice lurched into the dreamless darkness. I reluctantly opened my eyes. I was in one of the guest rooms. I could tell from the itchy mattress and two-story view the window above a mahogany dresser gave me. I shifted my arms, realizing that they were covered in gauze. I exhaled, feeling the bandage around my middle tighten. I was a wreck—how had they gotten me up here when I was so incapacitated?

"I told you, it fell out of your pocket! I just—" Simon tried to explain. I could just barely see his silhouette throwing his hands up in the air, which was pretty bad considering that I'm a werewolf with heightened vision. My body definitely needed some more resting time.

Simon was whispering, probably for my sake. Ezra on the other hand didn't appear to care at all that I'd been sleeping in the room.

"Sheesh, humans and their creepy habits…"

"Sleeping werewolf in here." I grunted to let the two involved in the argument at least somewhat acknowledge my presence. If they'd been about ten years younger, that statement probably would've frightened the two and won me some peace and quiet, but the only things that I received where a couple of scowls. I groaned and sat up.

"What are you two fussin' about?" Casey drawled as he trotted through the doorway beside where my head had been laying so peacefully.

"Everybody's welcome." I murmured and scooted back so that I could lean my back against the wall. Ezra snatched a small piece of cardstock out of Simon's hands before staring at me.

"Everyone out." She commanded without looking away from me. Simon opened his mouth, only to have it slapped with Ezra's right wing. He looked at her in shock for a second before Casey grabbed his shoulder and led him to the door, chuckling the whole time.

"Hey, I gotta get going sometime soon." Ezra said once the door was shut. I looked at her quizzically.

"Get going?" I said. For some reason I was still thinking of Ezra as a girl that we had rescued, helpless and terrified, from the clutches of Triton House. The know-it-all look she gave me now though showed that my thought definitely wasn't the case.

"What can I say; I've got places to be."

"More 'orders'?

"Something like that." She answered and stuffed her hands in her pockets. I chewed on my puffy bottom lip. Ezra had done so much for me—for all of us really. I wanted to thank her, but, like you've probably noticed, gratitude isn't really my strong part. I swallowed.

"Thank—"

"Stow the appreciation, buddy." She interrupted. My jaw slammed shut before setting into a grin. "I would've left before you even came back to consciousness, but I felt the need to clue you in on the Edison group's next move." My grin froze but didn't melt as I waited on her to continue. "Have you heard of 'The Pack'?" I couldn't help but snort. I might not have been your typical werewolf, but every one of us knew about the Pack. Dad wouldn't have skipped out on telling me about such an important group to the werewolf community. Heck, it was the werewolf community. "No need to be rude." She snapped at my wordless retort.

"Sorry." I said, not feeling like mentioning that her telling me to 'stow the appreciation' wasn't exactly showing the best manners in the world.

"Anyway," she continued "that's where they're planning on heading next. It's possible that they're thinking they should capture another werewolf to experiment on, but my guess is that after the mishap with their very own werewolf lab-rat, they're thinking it would be better to trim down the whole population. Or exterminate you all. Either one." My heart chilled as I remembered that the scientists were divided on whether or not werewolves were worth trying to control. After what happened with me, though, I doubted that I had strengthened their beliefs that my race was a good one.

"You think they're gonna try to kill off the pack?" I proposed "The Pack is a huge clan of werewolves. What would make them think that they had a chance?" Ezra shrugged.

"Like I said, I don't know exactly what they're planning. All I know is that they're headed towards the main werewolf society."

"How do you know this at all?" I questioned after a pause. I wasn't trying to get on her back, but I was too stunned to think of much else to say.

"These wings don't just mean that I can fly, you know." She said, flapping her red feathers and sending a cool breeze over my sweaty skin. I admired the strong, larger-than-life appendages, and I wondered what it would be like to have those two things sticking out of your back. "Gawk while you still can, earth-boy." She gloated. I was about to respond when the door creaked open and Chloe's golden head peeked through the crack in the door. Along with her the scent of eggs and the sizzling sound of bacon wafted into the room. My mouth watered immediately.

"How many eggs do you want?" she asked with a smile, the same smile that she wore almost every time we kissed.

"I'll come down." I said.

"Are you s-sure? I don't know if that's a g-good id-idea. You're w-weak and—"

"And staying in this bed for the rest of my life isn't going to make me stronger." I interjected. She rolled her eyes in a way that, thankfully, reminded me of the Chloe that I knew rather than the one that had screeched at me. There was no real attitude behind the eye-roll, just the same slight irritation that she always had whenever I'd refused to take her advice.

"Yeah, yeah. But if you're not down in five minutes, I'll come up here and make you carry me down the stairs."

"Fair enough." I said. I might've deliberately gone back to sleep if she was willing to go through her threat. She walked out of the doorway and I waited until the sound of her tiny feet padding on the floor reached the bottom of the staircase. At least my hearing was in good shape.

I turned back to the foot of the bed where Ezra had been standing, only to see that there was nothing there. I climbed out of the bed and walked around, looking for any sign of her. The only thing that I found was a 6-inch red feather on the edge of the windowsill.


	16. Chapter 16

Author's Note:

Ugh, I'm sorry this took me such a long time…writer's block+summer=large amounts of procrastination. Here it is though (finally)!

"Shut up!" Simon growled from the dining room table the moment I limped onto the first floor. Casey was standing behind my brother, gazing dramatically over the top of his spiky head at something that was splayed on the table. I yanked up my jeans (the only piece of clothing that I had been able to find and put on without messing up my bandages or rubbing against my wounds) by the belt loop and made my way closer.

"I knew it! You've got a thing for Ezra." Casey teased and grabbed the photograph that had been lying in front of Simon. "Take a look at what our little pervert snuck out of the angel's pocket." Casey wriggled his eyebrows, reminding me of a boy who had just stolen his big sister's diary with the intention of reading every last personal paragraph.

"I'm not a perv, and I didn't take it out of her pocket! It fell, and—"

"Denial!" Casey interrupted as I snatched the photo out of his hand. "Tell me, did you guys go to church a lot? I bet Simon was always making goo-goo eyes at the stain glass angels. I bet he—" I ignored Casey's immature babble and stared at the picture. It took a minute for my eyes to focus on the image, and another minute for me to process it. I felt my cheeks get hot as I realized it was definitely a picture of Ezra—in the nude. Thankfully, Ezra was crouching, and everything that would normally need a censor was just barely shielded by Ezra's loosely-wrapped wings. I would've thrust the photo right back at Casey, but I couldn't look away from the glowing lights behind Ezra. She was staring at them too. The moon was surrounded my several circles, circles that reminded me of the marbles that Simon and I would build slides for as kids. Each different colored orb looked like shooting stars with rays flowing off of them. Except the rays looked more like they could be feathers…

"As if I needed another reason to think that men are pigs." Tori sniffed from behind me. I jumped, freeing the picture from my grasp and letting it flutter to the floor. I gritted my teeth in chagrin. I expected Casey or Simon to jump up and defend my reputation, but they were too busy gripping their knees and trying to catch their breath. It was nice to see that they were happy again, but they could've picked some better timing than the moment that the Queen of Darkness decided to interrogate me. All I could do was cross my arms as I felt Queeny's cold eyes try their best to pierce the back of my head. I couldn't say that it wasn't familiar with the feeling. "What would Chloe say if she knew that you were sneaking peeks at—"

"It's n—not hi—his fault." Casey breathed between stifled, chuckle-filled gasps. His damp hair hopped in the air as he shook his head and tried to stand up straight again. "Simon's the one with the wing fetish."

"I don't think that someone that looks like he'd marry his cousin should be accusing me of anything." Simon spat. Casey's teasing was apparently the miraculous cure for his laughter. Tori narrowed her eyes at all of us for a minute before pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head.

"You're all disgusting." She groaned before pushing past me and into the kitchen, brushing off the sleeve of her black, long-sleeved shirt and pulling down her tiny denium shorts. Casey's eyes followed her, and I swear I saw an ounce of hurt gloss over his pupils. But, he quickly shook it off and started combing his freshly-showered hair with his fingers.

"Wonder what her problem is." He scoffed. His indifference wasn't very convincing, but the soreness that had settled in my knee caps told me to drop the matter. Besides, I knew why she was grumpy, even without phsycic powers. Liz was no longer in my body, which meant no more one-on-one contact between the two. No matter how much Tori bugged me, I still felt sorry for her. She had lost her friend and her mom in the same year. That couldn't have been a picnic, especially when she watched her mom's ghost die (as if that makes since). I shook my head and carefully stepped over the fallen picture (I wasn't going to have Chloe walk in with me holding a picture of a naked girl), and sat in the empty chair to Simon's right. My instincts had told me for years that I wasn't one of those people who needed recovery time, but my mind told me that I'd need it, especially if we were going to get involved with the Pack.

"Where is Ezra anyway?" Simon asked as he lean dangerously far back in his chair. "Not that it really matters to me, I'm just wondering." He glared at Casey, who had only had the chance to open his mouth about a sixth of an inch. I shrugged.

"I looked away from her for a second, and she was gone." I explained just as Chloe trotted over with a full plate of various breakfast foods. I rose my eyebrows at her as she placed it carefully in front of me. It disturbed me how much her pulled back hair and dark-ringed eyes made her look like one of those neglected spouses on a corny soap opera. I shivered at the thought. Chloe was a lot of things, but timid house wife wasn't one of them. Thinking about that made me think of marriage, which made me think of marrying her, which immediately made me blush again for reasons that I'm not really sure of. I looked away from het, not wanting to think about what marriage would intitle, that is if we ever got married. I guess now that I was back in my body, my hormones were starting to kick back in.

"I swear Derek, you look pretty manly, but I think you're a girl at heart." Casey commented as he scratched the side of his bare arm and took the seat on the other side of Simon. I rolled my eyes. Now Casey was getting on two brothers' nerves.

"Ok, one thing about boys is that if you baby them too much, they turn into sexist pigs." Tori said as she stalked into the room with her food in hand and dirty look in her eyes. I shook my head and shoveled a mound of scrambled eggs onto a fork. I tried to fit the food into my mouth, but it was quickly knocked off of my utensil. I would've tried again, but the fork was jerked away in an instant and tossed roughly to the other side of the table.

"What the hell, Liz?" I asked and crossed my arms, ignoring the sting that it brought to the long scratches down them. I glared at nothing for a few seconds before Chloe dropped an extra fork that she had been holding. I flinched as it clattered to the floor.

"Where is she?" she demanded. It seemed strange how strong her voice was and how aggressive she sounded. This from a girl who hadn't been able to stop stuttering the first week that I met her. Casey shot upwards with such force that the chair behind him clanged loudly on the hardwood. He'd automatically switched to defensive big brother mode. I heard Troy stomp into the room, scolding voice switched on, along with Alaina. As soon as Casey saw his sister, he carefully placed the chair back where it was. Through all of this, I tried to concentrate on what Chloe was saying, though it was clear that Liz's half of the conversation was the side that held all of the important information. She…who was she talking about? Chloe was here (obviously), so was Tori, and Alaina…

"Lauren." I gulped and dashed from my chair.

I nearly ran right through the screen door. My eyes scanned every inch of the yard for my sister. I sniffed, but all I could get were old traces of where she had been. She definitely wasn't here anymore...but there was recent traces of something else. An unfamiliar canine. A werewolf.

I clawed open the screen, not even caring that I had ripped it out of the frame. Troy should've been used to us wrecking his house anyway.

"Stop!" Chloe screeched. I ignored her and started racing across the grass, kicking up dust and ant hills. Another werewolf had taken Lauren, and I had the scent. If I didn't act quick, who knew—

"I said stop!" the word 'stop' echoed several times as colors swirled around me. I was numb to every other feeling besides the pressure of Chloe's tiny hand gripping onto my wrist. I closed my eyes, hoping that that would block out the sickeningly bright rainbow that had enveloped us. The next time I opened my eyes, I was staring up at a dull, gray sky.

A sizzling sound made me sit up and look over at Chloe, who was gasping and staring at her necklace. The familiar gem was now a bright green color. Smoke rose from it as it burned Chloe's skin.

I reached over quickly and yanked it from her neck as easily as I would tear apart a piece of cotton. I gasped myself when I felt the stinging heat, and that's saying a lot since I've been known to have a pretty high pain tolerance. I tossed it—well, more like threw it, seeing as it nearly hit a tree that was standing about fifty feet to our right. That necklace had saved our asses several times, but if it had seriously hurt Chloe—

Chloe's chin was plastered to her chest as she struggled to see the burn that had been left on her skin. I bit the inner flesh of my lip as I studied the ring of bright pink that the necklace had left on her. I could already see it blistering.

"What did you do? Why'd you send us here?" I yelled. I cursed, more at the situation than at Chloe, as I tried to rip off some of the bandage that was wrapped around my ribcage. It wouldn't feel very nice, but Chloe needed something to cover her blisters unless she wanted a nice weeping infection.

"I-I didn't d-do it on p-purpose." She stuttered. I stopped unraveling my bandage and glanced over at her. I couldn't tell if she was stuttering because it was her habit, or because of the couple of tears that had started their journey down her flustered face. I could practically hear my heart strain as guilt squeezed it.

"I know, I know…" I muttered, much quieter this time. Chloe had been so strong and tolerant for such a long time, I had forgotten that she was just a teenage girl going through more than a difficult puberty.

"Where do you think—"

My nose was what cut my words off. It was just like the scent that I had gotten at Troy's place, but I could tell that I was far from the only one of my species there. I realized exactly where we were.

Stonehaven.


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's Note:**

**I just wanted to say thanks to** **3579JM, who, a couple of chapters back, reminded me that I should have my facts aligned with Kelley Armstrong's if I were to write about the Pack. I read 'Bitten' a couple of years ago, but my memory was kind of foggy on it. If I hadn't skimmed through it again I might've messed something up. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed typing it (which was a whole lot actually)!**

The name of the property suddenly flicked through my head, which is surprising because dad had seldom talked to me about technical werewolf things like names of places. Somehow though, I just knew. This was a place that held a lot of meaning to those like me. The place where the most important Pack members lived and held meetings. The place where HE lived. The Alpha.

"We have to be careful." I whispered so low that I could barely hear my own voice.

"Why?" Chloe asked as I finally ripped off a four-foot strip of bandage.

"Remember those creeps Liam and Ramon?" I asked as I calmly set the bandage on her right shoulder. She immediately tried to shove the cloth back to me. I chuckled. I'd predicted that she'd do that, protest me giving her my bandages. But, she needed the gauze, and no matter what shape I was in, that was all that I cared about.

"You need something on that burn." I said. She looked me dead in the eye and disobediently tried to jam it back into my hands. Her look was so defiant, so stubborn, I couldn't help but smile (at least on the inside). She thought she was bad ass, and I knew that she could be, but it was funny to see a tiny, stuttering girl giving you a look that was almost strong enough to break the skin.

Instead of taking it back like she'd been trying to get me to do, I grabbed her fist. It felt warm, probably from the radiating frustration that was emitting from her. I kissed her, so gentle that it was more like two rose petals brushing together than two pairs of lips embracing. I'm still not sure exactly why I did it, but I do know that for a few seconds, I felt more like I was floating above Stonehaven than actually in it. I was so thankful that I didn't have to hide what I felt anymore. So grateful that I wasn't labeled the antisocial jerk anymore (however true that title might have been). Besides, now that I was back in my body, I wanted to be close to and hold her every chance I got, and those chances seemed to be becoming more and rarer as time went on.

When I broke the kiss, Chloe rested her forehead on mine for a second. Her sweet breath blew the longest strands of my hair into my face and caressed my skin. I shivered from a mixture of pleasure and comfort that I'd hardly ever felt.

After a few seconds, Chloe looked away, and I busily covered her wound. No more struggle this time. She didn't even flinch, although it must've hurt to feel the rough material on such a fresh burn. It was hard to keep my eyes on the work in front of me rather than trying to read her face. I hoped that the kiss had stunned her, not disgusted her…ugh I had such low self-esteem.

"Anyway," I said once I'd finished setting up the strip running over her shoulder and across her chest "they talked to us about the Pack, and this is where the Pack is." I sat back on my heels with my forearms resting on my knees. I'd made an art of hiding my feelings in more ways than one, which is why I wasn't surprised at how composed my voice sounded, even though every nerve in my body was quivering. I hoped Chloe couldn't tell that every hair on my body was standing on end. The last thing that I wanted was for her to realize how nervous I was. I was pretty sure that she wouldn't feel very safe if she found out just how her protector was feeling at the moment. She hadn't asked for this, but the necklace had transported us yet again, and this time, it might've gotten us in deep trouble. Really deep. From what I'd heard, the Pack didn't exactly roll out the welcome wagon for outsiders.

I stood, listening to my back crack as I stretched. I reached out my hand, and Chloe took it wordlessly and got herself up before sprinting over to where I'd thrown the necklace. I couldn't say that I was surprised; I knew that no matter what that necklace did, it symbolized how much she'd loved her mom, and how much she'd always love her mom. She couldn't leave it behind.

My toes dug into the moist and grassy earth, but I didn't mind the mud that made its way under my nails. It had rained here recently, and, though it wasn't raining at the moment, the overcast sky threatened to throw a temper tantrum. I tried to keep my uneasiness hidden, and for some reason I desperately wanted to change. I was shocked by the feeling, since the times that I had gone through the experience hadn't been extremely pleasant. Something about this place, about knowing that there were others like me here, made me sort of happy to be a werewolf, which was a first. Sure the senses were an upside, but the strength and basically everything else had its uses, but it was a huge chore to try and control it…and to keep from doing something that you'll regret.

"Where are we going exactly?" Chloe panted when she'd finally caught up with me. I slowed. Had I even known where we were going? At the time when I was supposed to be the most alert, it seemed like I couldn't keep my head from drifting into the clouds.

However, her question snapped me back into the real world, the world where I was in Stonehaven. The world where my sister was missing.

"Well, since your necklace brought us here, that probably means that Lauren's somewhere around here…" I said. It had brought us to Troy's when we'd needed to get away, so now it had probably brought us to where we needed to be. I sure hoped that my assumption was right. For Lauren's sake.

I stopped and sniffed the air. Chloe stopped too, and I could feel her giving off an anxious energy that I tried hard to ignore. I needed to pinpoint where the nearest werewolf was, though there were a few in the area, and it was hard to track down any one's specific scent.

The smells were hard to get a hold on, but I would've had to have been completely deaf not to hear the growl that broke the air next. I spun to the right, where a huge tan wolf was inching its way over threateningly. As you've probably already figured out, this wasn't a normal wolf. It was a part of the Pack. Even with the stench of rage and testosterone, I could smell others on him. Chloe backed into me, and I immediately held her shoulders protectively. I snarled, and the monotone of my voice startled even me; I didn't know I could make my voice sound that low without being in wolf-form.

"What do you want?" I boomed and stepped to where Chloe and I were side-by-side, not taking my hands off of her shoulders. I wasn't going to push her behind me until the last possible second; just to make it slightly less predictable.

_'You're the one on Pack territory, mutt.'_ His eyes said. And I mean that as literally as possible. I actually _heard_ his voice in my head. I'd only experienced that kind of thing when Alaina had communicated with me in the morgue. I kept my teeth bared to keep up the appearance that I wasn't stunned or intrigued by the sudden telepathy.

"We're sorry if we're disturbing anything, but we're just looking for a friend. We'll be gone as soon as we find them." I said out loud. For one I wanted Chloe to have at least a semi-understanding of what was going on, and for another I wasn't completely sure that my attempts at communicating without using my vocal chords would work. This was an older werewolf that could probably fill libraries with information about our species that I couldn't even begin to know about. It was intimidating, but I couldn't let him know that I felt that way. Not when he was staring at us so hungrily.

_'I'll give you three seconds to start running.'_ He drawled in a country dialect much less friendly-sounding than Casey's. I hadn't expected him to be civil about us being on Pack property, and I had been right.

_'One.'_

"Chloe, go." I urged and pushed her backwards with as much force as I could use without knocking her over.

'_Two.'_

"Derek! I know you think you can take this guy, but—"

_'Three.'_

With that, the blonde wolf crouched before catapulting himself towards me. I shoved Chloe one final time, making her fall to the ground this time. A bit of mud would hurt her much less than the werewolf's snapping jaws.

He tackled me to the ground. He was heavier than I'd expected, and I'd anticipated a lot of weight. This was like a pair of freight trains that decided I seemed like a good replacement for a railroad.

He'd scratched me up pretty good with the initial attack, which was pretty easy since I was wearing nothing on my torso. To stop him from ripping open my healing wounds, I quickly clamped my fingers onto his wrists. That didn't distract his snapping teeth though. I twisted his furry forearms, trying to tangle them enough to make him squeal or at least let up enough to where I could get him off of me. It wouldn't take a degree in calculus to realize that he was going for my throat. This guy had every intention of killing me, and he was making a show out of proving to me that he was fully capable of the task.

_ 'You should have known better than to trespass, dumb mutt.'_ He said _'Pretty convenient that you brought a girl, too. My mate's been out of town for a while.'_

That was it.

I arched my back, sinking my head deep into the wet earth and allowing the bottom of my feet to get a little bit of traction from the ground and throw the wolf off of me. I tossed him about six feet, which was a much better result than I'd thought I'd get. I leapt on top of him, smashing his muzzle harshly into the ground. He whimpered and tussled, but I had the upper hand now.

At that moment it occurred to me that I could simply break his neck and have the whole situation over and done with. The Pack would hunt me down until the day I died, but the thought of him snarling at Chloe, gawking at her, made me not really care. If I had mercy and he hurt Chloe, would I ever be able live with it? But, if I did kill him, it would stay with me for the rest of my life…

"Clayton!" A gruff voice shouted from nearby. The voice was barely audible due to the sound of muscles straining paired with my conscience's haunted warnings. I took my weight off of him, and he snaked away. He snapped at me, but I'm pretty sure my glare kept him from biting me. I was sure that he knew that I could've cracked his skull in a matter of seconds if I'd really wanted to.

I looked up, still on my hands and knees, at a man that emerged from a group of trees. He was a werewolf too, but he was different than the one named Clayton. He was older, which may or may not have contributed to him seeming calmer and all around more down-to-earth. I glanced over at the more aggressive werewolf who had started to retreat into a nearby bush. I didn't really care why he was leaving; all that mattered was that he was getting the hell away from me and Chloe. I stood up, noticing for the first time that blood was leaking out of the now ripped knees of my jeans, as well as in several places on my arms and stomach. It hurt to straighten my legs, but seeing that Chloe was still on the ground distracted me immediately.

"First of all, what exactly—" The older, dark-haired man started, but I wasn't paying attention. I jogged over to Chloe. She was on her back, her knees bent and elbows supporting her weight. Thankfully, it looked like she was more shocked than in pain.

"You ok?" I asked softly and helped her back to her feet. Her only response was a slight 'mhmm', but that was enough for me. I hugged her close and closed my eyes before I heard someone clear their throat. I turned back around, sliding my hand down Chloe's arm until it reached her palm. The man that had run off Clayton chuckled.

"You haven't even noticed who I am, have you?" He said, the laugh leaving his lips, but remaining in his eyes. He crossed his denim- jacketed arms and I realized that this was who I'd really been afraid of in the beginning. This was the Alpha.


	18. Chapter 18

"I-I'm sorry that we're trespassing." I said. It was my turn to stutter rather than Chloe's. I cleared my throat. "We'll be out of your way as soon as we find someone—" just as I said that, shouting sounded from behind the Pack Alpha. A very tattered-looking Lauren sprinted from the trees, throwing her arms around both myself and Chloe, and stunning us both.

"I'm guessing this is that someone?" the Alpha proposed. I nodded as my sister backed out of the hug and a guy with darkly tanned skin and curly black hair emerged from where Lauren had just come from.

"Sorry, Jeremy." The newest unfamiliar face apologized "I tried to—CLAYTON!"

It didn't take long for me to realize why the third werewolf had screeched, since the next thing that came into my vision was a very proud-looking—and very naked—blonde guy.

"Dear Lord…" the Alpha, Jeremy said and held his forehead in his hands. I covered both my sister's and my girlfriend's eyes. That wasn't something that I wanted either of them to see any time soon. "Clayton, there are girls here."

"Yeah. So?"

"They're both underage, Clayton." The third, tanned werewolf said. Clayton mumbled something before walking behind a patch of bushes that just barely covered his privates. He turned around, hands on his hips, with a smirk that said 'happy now?'. I slowly inched my hands away from the girls' eyes. I could tell that things were definitely a bit more…shameless in the Pack than in the human world. Which I guess isn't necessarily a bad thing. Humans are used to hiding things from one another, even from the closest of family in some cases. In groups of wolves—and apparently werewolves—they obviously didn't find shame in letting it all hang out (which may be the wrong way to describe that given the mental image you all probably have now).

"So, you know Lauren." Jeremy said. I nodded.

"I'm her brother." I said.

"Brother? You mean she was born this way?" The tanned-looking guy I still didn't have a name for asked. I knitted my eyebrows together, but nodded. The Alpha snuck a look at the two other werewolves.

"I told you!" Lauren exclaimed. She was leaning on me now, and I could tell that she was feeling pretty insecure at this point.

"You need to keep better care of your sis," Clayton said "she was this close to finding out what it would be like to be a mother." Clayton held his thumb and index finger less than an inch away from each other. I looked over at Lauren, whose eyes remained on the ground. "The werewolf that she came across wasn't exactly as gentleman-like as I am. And, since she's one of the VERY few female werewolves like us on the planet, she was exactly what this guy was looking for."

"Who was it?" I asked. I didn't think I'd know who it was, but just the thought of some freak trying to touch my sister—

"Just some rogue. He was dead before he even knew I was there." Clayton explained proudly.

"Wait…Lauren, you were in Texas last night. How did you get all the way here…?" Chloe asked. I hadn't thought about it, but the same thing should've popped into my mind. We were in Canada, which I was pretty sure wasn't just a stroll away from Trent's place. Even though a werewolf can run way faster than any human, I doubted there was anything that could make it cross-country in such a short time. Except for Chloe, me, and her charm of course. Lauren looked up and blinked.

"I…I don't know." She said. Her voice was barely audible. We all stood in silence for a while. During that time, my brain desperately scavenged for some detail that we'd missed, some possible explanation for what was being left unknown. However long the period of silence lasted, it wasn't nearly long enough.

"Whatever happened, there's no way you guys are getting back tonight." Jeremy said. I zoomed back into the real world, and noticed that several raindrops had dampened my bare shoulders. "You can come with us." Jeremy said. I looked him dead in the eye.

"You're joking." I said. My statement seemed to match Clayton's stunned face. "I—we're two strays and a human." Jeremy shrugged.

"You haven't done anything to make me believe that you'll be any trouble." He said, and paused. "If it turns out that I'm wrong, I think you three know what will happen." I shivered as he turned and walked away. Clayton and the other guy slowly followed. I didn't particularly want to go with the revered group, but I didn't see that we had much of a choice. I could probably eventually find a place to stay, but Lauren had open wounds and was shaking. I wasn't going to make her stay out here in the cold any longer than she had to. All three of us walked forward.

I guess that the inside of the Pack's place was a lot more comforting than what I would've expected. The interior was sophisticated, but somehow laidback at the same time. Overall, I felt so intimidated it was as if I was suffocating. Jeremy didn't seem to be the demanding tyrant that I had imagined, but I still couldn't bring myself to look him straight in the eye.

I could feel tenseness in the room so intense that I wondered whether or not it would be more awkward just to get up and walk out right then. Jeremy sat at one end of the huge table, directly opposite of me and Chloe. Lauren sat on the side, close enough to me, but not as close as Chloe. The third werewolf (who on our way in had introduced himself as 'Nick') rustled around in the kitchen, but I didn't dare look over to see if what he was up to. Just when I was about to make some excuse to go outside and get away, Clayton made his way into the room.

He was now (thankfully) wearing jeans and a plain white t-shirt. He leaned over the table rather than sitting down in a chair, staring at us three outsiders like we were his future chicken dinner (I know that I'm exaggerating, but I just couldn't get out scuffle earlier out of my mind enough to think of him as being friendly). He started drumming his scratched knuckles on the wooden table. Our eyes met, and I waited to hear another telepathic message, but none came. Clayton's homemade beat seemed similar, but I just ground my teeth rather than try and figure out what tune he was trying to imitate.

"So…" He said after what must have only been thirty seconds "Who's your father?" I blinked. The question caught me off guard. Lauren zipped her head around to stare at me, as if I'd know any better than her. I chewed my lip. I didn't.

Who had that jerk Liam said I looked like? That time back at the park, he'd said something about some big, dumb guy that I seemed to favor. Was it King…Krine?

"He looks like Cain if you ask me." Nick said as he came back in from whatever he'd been doing in the kitchen and took the seat next to Lauren. Cain. That was it.

"Cain…" Lauren breathed. She shuddered a little bit, and I could only imagine what it must've felt like for her to hear the name of our father. Even if this Cain guy was my biological dad, there's no way I would think of him as being my family. Kit was my dad. He would always be my dad. Lauren however had never had any type of father, unless you count those goons in lab coats that checked her progress in the lab.

"Even you look like him," Nick observed "minus the big part." As he scanned my sister's face, I watched as Jeremy and Clayton traded glances. They knew something that we didn't.

"Is…is he part of the Pack?" Lauren asked. I smirked. The way that Liam and Ramon had described him, he hadn't seemed like Pack material.

"Yeah right," Clayton scoffed and stood up straight. There was a disgusted look on his face. "Letting someone as stupid as he was in would be more of an insult than anything." The word 'was' hit me sharply.

"He's dead." I said, pretty certain of the answer. Jeremy nodded. There was no malice in his eyes, but there certainly wasn't any sympathy either. Lauren inhaled sharply, but didn't say anything. She just brought her attention to a small crack that had worked its way into the wooden table and traced her slender index finger along the crevasse.

"Do either of you know who your mother is? Or was?" Clay asked, a tone in his voice of slight surprise. My steady glare let him know the answer. Clay raised his hands in the air, as if to show that he wasn't trying to be insulting. "I was just wondering. If you two really are full-blooded brother and sister like you're saying, your mom was probably a werewolf too." Jeremy sat back and looked into nothing. He was thinking hard.

"That's impossible…Elena's the only female werewolf that survived the process of turning…there couldn't have been-"

"I think the fact that Lauren is a werewolf proves that there's actually a lot more going on here than we know about." Jeremy said, cutting Nick off "We never thought that Elena would give birth to werewolves, and look what happened."

I sat back, not sure what to make of the whole conversation. It wasn't the fact that they were talking about someone I didn't know that hit me, it was the fact that the Pack leader was admitting that there were things about our species that were still mysteries. I'd always expected that if I ever found the Pack, they'd know everything. That they'd be able to explain everything that I didn't know in full detail. I didn't know whether to feel relieved that at least I wasn't the only one that was clueless, or frustrated because I wouldn't be able to have all of my questions answered.

I'd found what I'd secretly been wanting to find for years. I'd discovered the Pack. Whether or not this was going to be good, I couldn't tell. I was going to find out very soon though. Very soon.


	19. Chapter 19

Ugh…I haven't updated in soo long! I'm so sorry…school starting up again +laziness does not equal a timely writer. This chapter is short, but at least I've finally gotten something published…  
Now I'm off to try and work on the next chapter and somehow reclaim my dignity :3

The night that followed wasn't the most comfortable that I had ever experienced. Not that I'd had a whole lot of luxurious naps recently. Maybe it was the excitement, maybe it was the tension. Maybe it was simply the fact that my skin felt a million times warmer than it should have. My changes were a lot more under control at this point, but that didn't mean there wasn't the possibility of a change being sprung upon me.

I would've stayed on the couch, submerging myself in deep, semi-disturbing thoughts, but a noise from the hallway made me sit up. This wasn't a house that I was used to, and the sound could've been something as simple as the beams creaking within the walls. These past months had made me more paranoid than I'd ever been in my entire life, and that's saying something.

Or it could be Chloe. I'd sensed that she wasn't feeling very stable. I couldn't blame her. Recently, she'd had no reason whatsoever to feel comfortable.

If I'd had the choice I would've slept right next to her. That might've kept her feeling like she was protected.

But, maybe that's just my big head getting the way of my rational thought. I'd failed her in some ways, anyway. Some ways that I could never take back. Maybe it was best that she was all of the way upstairs, sleeping soundly in an empty room. Maybe.

I heard the noise again, a creaking sound that made me certain there was someone up and about upstairs. I got up, not knowing how I'd console her if it was her who was scurrying around. What if she'd had a dream? What if there was a cemetery nearby? What if some of the Pack's infamous rogues were buried nearby, and she thought she'd raised one of them?

What if Cain was buried nearby?

My whole body twitched in a single movement. That idea was ridiculous…wasn't it?

I'd be lying if I said that that thought didn't run through my brain as I made my way through the house. Each step I took upstairs resulted in another horrifying image of a hairy hand clawing at moist earth. A skull with only half of the skin still clinging to the bone. A row of jagged teeth no longer concealed by a pair of lips.

I shook off the horrific images. Chloe needed someone that she could depend on, no matter the situation. Not some wimp that would let his imagination get the best of him.

Once I got to the main landing, I realized that I hadn't been shown where Chloe's room was. Nick had led the girls upstairs, leaving me with only a couple of pillows and an old, stuffed couch as company.

But, that's when werewolf senses come in handy. At this point, I think I knew Chloe's vibe and smell well enough that I could've found her in almost any house(even this huge mansion) effortlessly.

I walked over, being careful to try and balance my weight in a way that didn't make the old floorboards creak. Not an easy task when taking my size and the age of the building into consideration, but I was used to having to be as quiet as possible. I almost growled out loud however when peeked into the open doorway to see a man's form over Chloe's bedside.

The scent wafting from him told me that it was Clayton.

Seeing Clayton—a man who I still didn't trust—looking over Chloe's bedside like that enraged me. My vision became fuzzy as I lunged forward, grabbing Clayton by his left shoulder and pushing him backwards. His eyes flashed.

"What are you-"

"If you go anywhere near her, I'll make sure you have a limp that never goes away." I growled as I pushed him again, this time so hard that his bare back struck the plastered wall. I placed the back of my right forearm against his collarbone, my other hand against the wall beside his thick neck. He was strong, but I was stronger.

"Do you have anything inside that bulk you call a body besides testosterone?" Clayton whispered in my face. As his fingers dug into the skin of my forearm. I barely felt it. "Maybe this is a normal thing, but I don't know a whole lot of girls who thrash about like that in their sleep." I looked back to see Chloe convulsing on the mattress.

"Chloe." I said, unpinning the other werewolf and going to her side. As soon as I came within reach, Chloe's frantic limbs swiped at me. I grabbed her wrists, and she groaned as if she was in pain.

"Wake up!" Clayton exclaimed, practically pushing past me to try and shake Chloe awake.

"I wouldn't—" I tried to say, but was drowned out by Clayton's shocked yelp as Chloe head-butted his nose.

"Ahhh-!" Clayton groaned as he held his head upwards and used his thumb and forefinger to shut his nostrils that were already spewing blood.

"I'm so sorry…" Chloe said. Her forehead making contact with his face must've woken her up.

"You ok?" I asked as I sat down beside her. Chloe's voice had sounded calm, but even in the nearly non-existant light the moon was giving off, I could tell that her pupils were dialated to the size of pennies, and her chest heaved.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Clayton answered sarcastically to the question that he was fully aware wasn't directed at him.

I ignored Clayton and swiped Chloe's hair out of her face (which was quite a task when you think about how much her head was flailing about only seconds before). Her forehead was drenched in icy sweat.

"What were you dreaming about?" I asked softly. I heard hushed voices in the hallway, but I was too worried to pay any attention.

"I…I don't remember." Chloe said. She raised her hands to her cheeks, which I was pretty sure were a bright red (I had good eyesight, but I couldn't see much of a skin tone in the kind of darkness that had surrounded us).

"You…don't?" I said questioningly. It wasn't that I didn't believe her, it was just that when someone is making that much movement in their sleep, you usually expect them to remember a thing or two. She shook her head.

"I—I…"

"It's ok, it's ok. We'll figure it out later." I cooed before she practically collapsed into my chest. Wait…I cooed?

Geez. Maybe Casey was right. So much for my manhood.

Her back was still heaving from the strain when I realized that she was asleep. I let her back rest in my right hand while I gently pushed her with the other. Once she was laying peacefully again, I went to the door. I wasn't going to leave her tonight, but I still owed the rest of the house some kind of explanation…whatever that explanation was.


	20. Chapter 20

Hey guys, I just wanted to address a stupid mistake I made.

Stonehaven is NOT in Canada, but it New York. I read 'Bitten' a couple of years ago, and got my facts mixed up! Just wanted to clear that up in case anybody noticed! Hope you enjoy the next chapter!

"So, let me get this straight," Clayton said from his cross-legged perch on the kitchen counter that looked in on the dining room table where Jeremy and myself were sitting "your little girlfriend can make zombies?" I grunted in agreement. The way he'd put it made Chloe's life seem like a B movie, but he was basically correct. "Sounds kinda…cool." He gushed. I rolled my eyes. I guess if I was in his shoes though, I would've thought of it the same way. He wasn't there with Chloe through the nights she'd worried about waking the dead. He hadn't felt her uneasiness, and her guilt. He didn't know how serious the situation really was.

At this point, I'd finally decided to tell Jeremy and Clayton everything that had happened since we'd escaped Lyle house. At least, everything important. I was tempted to ask them about the troubles I'd had changing, but I doubted they'd tell me anything I didn't know. I left that part out. I knew I wasn't normal. I knew that they'd done something to me. I knew that my changes becoming normal might not be the last side-effect of whatever goofy medication they'd filled me with. Only time could tell me the truth.

"Do you think she raised anything while she was sleeping?" Jeremy asked. His eyes finally lifted up to mine, locking on them. They were the eyes of someone who'd seen a lot that I hadn't seen. Someone who'd had time to think of things that I'd never even dreamt of.

"She said she couldn't remember what she'd been dreaming." I said "If we see anything crawling up to the door, we'll know something happened. Otherwise, it's pretty much impossible to know for sure." Jeremy nodded and scratched a stubbled cheek. I subconsciously rubbed my own and realized that I really could use a shave. Being on the run all of the time was going to make me look like a homeless person…then again, I guess in a way, I was. I had been for a long time. I'd been in several houses, but the place I'd shared with Simon and dad had been my only real home.

"We might want to look around a little bit in the morning." Jeremy said before standing up. "There's a lot more people buried near here than any of us would like to think about. In the meantime, you might want to stay with her. Something isn't right." With that, he made his way up the creaking stairs. I got up, planning to follow his footsteps towards sleep.

"Nighty-night, Princess." Clayton chirped as he reached over to his right to grab an apple that was sitting lonely in a weaved basket. I clenched my fist.

"Call me anything you want, but stay away from Chloe." I said, looking him dead in the face. I willed my eyes to be as piercing as Jeremy's.

"What?" Clayton asked, nearly dropping the piece of fruit.

"I don't want to see you anywhere near Chloe. Ever." I said "especially not in her bedroom in the middle of the night."

Clayton laughed throatily, a contagious laugh that I probably would've been tempted to join into if the situation seemed less serious.

"You're little Voodoo-Shirley Temple there isn't my type, kid." He chuckled. As he did, his eyes glazed over the painting that had been next to the doorway; the one with the nude woman with gleaming eyes. "She's got a pretty face, but I've got an actual woman."

"Blech. Was that the cheesiest line you could come up with?" An unfamiliar female voice asked. I jumped. I hadn't even heard the tall blonde woman come in until she was practically right next to me. Clayton smiled.

"What? I thought it sounded sweet." He said with a feisty grin. The woman rolled her eyes before looking at me.

"So, you must be the big one Jeremy was talking about." She said, scanning me.

"Uh, yeah. I'm Derek." I said, unsure exactly how I felt about being called 'the big one'. Sure it wasn't a lie, but it was a little bit on the blunt side.

"I'm sorry; did I really just call you 'the big one'?" She said, seeming to read my mind. "I'm not exactly the most stable person in the world when I'm running on only two hours of sleep. Airports aren't the most comfortable places in the world." I nodded. I could tell by the bags under her eyes that she wasn't lying. "I'm Elena by the way." I nodded, unsure whether I should keep talking or not. She seemed tired, so I kept my mouth shut as she made her way up the staircase.

"She might not always seem like the sharpest crayon in the box," Clayton said with a hand on my shoulder that was so rough I nearly winced "but don't underestimate her. And remember, she's mine." There was nothing really venomous about his words, but something told me that he was serious. Not that it mattered either way; I had Chloe, and that was all I cared about.

Clayton followed Elena, leaving me alone in the dining room. I sat back down in the cold folding chair, knowing that even if I did go lay down, I wouldn't be able to sleep soundly. I didn't really mind—what was another sleepless night? It seemed like I could force myself to run on less than four hours of rest per night.

Sleep did find me, but only for short intervals. I couldn't remember any of my dreams, so I didn't know if it was nightmares that woke me up, or something else entirely. Finally, about the seventh time that I was roused for an unknown reason, I stood and made my way to the kitchen. I splashed cold water on my face and closed my eyes. The only thing that I could hear was a lone woodpecker outside that seemed transfixed on its latest project. When I finally opened my eyes, I realized that the sun had just begun to peak out from behind the hill. It was hard to see the sliver of orange that reached between the tree-covered hills at the front of the huge house. I decided it was time to check on Chloe.

I made my way upstairs, trying my best to be quiet. I usually didn't have a problem moving soundlessly, but in a house full of werewolves who had hearing as good as I did, I couldn't be too careful. I was only a few feet from Chloe's door when a giggle distracted me; it was coming from a room with the door slightly ajar right across from our necromancer's. I peeked in Chloe's door, absorbing the beautiful sight of Chloe's small smile stretching across her sleeping face before turning to the source of the laughing sound.

I barely had to touch the wood of the door to make it creak open. Even though the sound made me cringe, the occupants of the room didn't even seem to notice. My eyebrows knitted together as I watched Lauren giggling. It was a sound that I must've heard only once or twice. I was sure that it was much louder than I'd heard it, too. Her nose was scrunched and eyes shut tight, making her face look younger. I couldn't keep from smiling myself. She looked happy. My sister actually looked happy.

My smile was erased however by the source of her laughter. Nick was sitting on the edge of the bed, and I couldn't help but notice that his hand was placed a little too close to Lauren's bare knee. She was wearing only a tank top and a pair of panties. I guess growing up in a lab didn't really teach you what's respectable to wear in front of strange men. Well, maybe he wasn't that strange, but I sure didn't like the way he was smiling. If the wolf inside of me had had a voice, I think it would've been screaming at me to break a couple of the bones in his hand closest to Lauren.

"Hey—you guys are up early." I said. I'd waited until I was right behind Nick to speak. He jumped, showing me that he hadn't even noticed me walk in. Lauren looked a little less startled, and beamed brightly at me.

"Good morning, Derek!" She exclaimed and scratched her arm. I stepped forward a little, so that if I was any more on the bed I'd be lying between them.

"Hi Lauren," I said, as I put my hands on my hips "hi, Nick." I kept the growl out of my voice, but the way Nick cringed told me that he'd sensed a warning in my greeting. I smiled, kind of enjoying the power of intimidation.

"Lauren had a weird dream." Nick said and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Really?" I said, not taking my eyes off of the other male werewolf.

"Yeah…" Lauren said, her voice sounding melancholy compared to how it had been a few seconds before. "I think it was Alaina…"

"What?" I said, mildly startled "Really? What did she say?"

"I'm not completely sure, but it wasn't good…" She replied. Chloe's scream was the next thing to fill the air.


End file.
